The brief interaction between two modern-day greats, Virat Kohli and Babar Azam is trending across social media platforms.
The Pakistan captain can be seen shaking hands and having a small chat with the Indian stalwart in a video shared by BCCI.
The Indian team began its practice sessions in Dubai on August 24 ahead of the Asia Cup. BCCI shared a video on its Twitter page sharing the information captioned, Hello DUBAI, Hugs, smiles and warm-ups as we begin prep for #AsiaCup2022. In the video shared by BCCI, players from the Indian team can be seen interacting and exchanging pleasantries with the players of the Afghanistan and Pakistan teams too.
King Kohli has been struggling with his recent form and has received quite a flak for his performance with the Indian team. On the contrary, Babar Azam has taken massive strides to be now considered a phenomenal batsman.
With fans around the world looking for ‘King Kohli’ to return to his best, all eyes will be on him to help India to their record eighth Asia Cup title.
Virat Kohli talked about his mental approach and how he has been preparing for the Asia Cup 2022.
“What happened in England was a pattern, so something that I could work on and something that I had to kind of overcome. Right now, as you rightly mentioned, there is nothing that you can point out saying that the problem is happening here. So, that for me, is an easier thing to process because I know that I’m batting well and at times, when I start feeling that rhythm back, then I know that I’m batting well,” Virat said on Star Sports show ‘Game Plan.’
“So, that for me is not an issue, which wasn’t the case in England; I didn’t feel like I was batting well at all. So, I had to work hard on one thing that could be exposed again and again which I overcame; right now this is not the case,” he added.
Kohli further spoke about how important this past phase has been for his career and how it has improved his outlook on his game and life.
“I know where my game stands and you cannot run this far in your international career without having the ability to counter situations and counter conditions and counter different kinds of bowling. So, this for me, is an easier phase to process, but I don’t want to put this phase behind me. I want to learn from it and I want to understand what are the core values that I have, as a sportsperson and as a human being,” he said.
“As long as I’m ticking those boxes, I know there are ups and downs, and when I come out of this phase, I know how consistent I can be. My experiences are sacred to me. Whatever I have experienced in this phase or in the past, as well one thing that I can vouch for is that I have never valued myself more as a person,” he added.
One of the greatest rivalries in the cricketing world is set to be reignited after a gap of nine months. Cricket fans across the globe have been kept away from the high voltage action of India-Pakistan in recent times. Hence the buildup for the clash between the two Asian heavyweights is colossal.
Asia Cup 2022 will be held in UAE from August 27 to September 11 with India set to face Pakistan on August 28. (ANI)
