This too shall pass: Babar Azam backs out-of-form Virat Kohli

Missing the first ODI against England with a groin injury, Kohli made just 16 in the second match, which India lost by 100 runs at Lord's Thursday.

The right-hander has now gone 77 consecutive international innings without reaching three figures, after scores of 1 and 11 in the T20I series and failures in the rescheduled fifth Test.

Kohli has not hit a century since 2019.

Azam has extended his support via social media as Babar posted a picture of Kohli and himself on Twitter with a caption: "This too shall pass. Stay strong."

Earlier in the week, Kohli also found support from captain Rohit Sharma, who stood up for his teammate ahead of the England ODIs.

"When someone is scoring consistently for so long, we can’t overlook his contribution if he is not scoring in one or two series or in one or two years," Sharma told reporters ahead of the ODI series with England.

"When someone is scoring consistently for so long, we can’t overlook his contribution if he is not scoring in one or two series or in one or two years. We know the importance of Virat Kohli. The experts have got all the right to talk about it but for us these things don’t matter," he added.