“If You Want To Wake Kohli, Tell Him…”: Akhtar’s Sly Poke Amid Poor Form 

India’s star batter Virat Kohli is currently going through a lean patch. Runs are not coming from his bat and the player has been losing his wickets to harmless deliveries, more often than not. What has been causing concern for the batter for a long time now is the channel outside off stump. Kohli, somehow, finds a way to get himself out after edging the deliveries around the off stump. Owing to the weakness, Kohli suffered a lot during India’s recently-concluded Test series against Australia Down Under. He scored only 190 runs across five games at an average of 23.75, despite scoring a century in first Test in Perth.

Kohli will be getting another opportunity to get back to form when India host England for a three-match ODI series, starting February 6.

The Indian side will then play the Champions Trophy, which is scheduled to begin on February 19. Meanwhile, the team will face its arch-rival Pakistan on 23rd that month.

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar believes that Kohli will be back in form during the match against the Asian neighbour. He recalled Kohli’s famous Melbourne knock from 2022 T20 World Cup that the star batter played against Pakistan.

“If you want to wake Virat Kohli up, tell him that there is a match against Pakistan. He will wake up. We have seen it often. He played a top knock in Melbourne. He will get up and running,” Akhtar told Aaj Tak.

Akhtar hopes for an evenly fought contest between India and Pakistan.

“India is a strong side. I would love to see Rohit, Kohli, Jasprit and all these guys to go out and perform their best, but I really want Pakistan to win.

“Imagine Virat Kohli scoring runs for India, Babar Azam scoring for Pakistan, Shaheen and Naseem bowling well for Pakistan, Jasprit Bumrah firing for India,” he said.