How Babar Azam-Virat Kohli bromance shines the light on an old tradition

Late on July 14, Babar Azam set Twitter afire with a simple, yet powerful message. “This too shall pass. Stay strong. #ViratKohli.”

This too shall pass. Stay strong. #ViratKohli pic.twitter.com/ozr7BFFgXt

— Babar Azam (@babarazam258) July 14, 2022

That was as much as Pakistan’s extraordinary cricket captain said. That was enough, more than enough.

Azam, riding the crest of a wave with one subliminal batting display after another, showcased the human side to sportspersons far too often overlooked by all comers. In his moment of triumph and joy, he was empathetic enough to not just understand what a fellow virtuoso was going through, but also motivated enough to offer support and encouragement publicly. It’s wonderful to see that in this era of gamesmanship, sportsmanship is still well and truly alive.

The trigger for Azam’s viral tweet was another failure for Kohli in international cricket. The former Indian skipper, now without a hundred at the highest level for close to 80 innings, had been dismissed for 16 in the second One-Day International against England at Lord’s, hanging his bat out to dry and edging David Willey behind the sticks. Both the fact that he had gotten out for another low score, and that he had nicked off in familiar, worrying fashion were not lost on the aficionados, but just as the knives were being sharpened all over again, came the voluntary vote of confidence from one champion to another.

Had the subject of Azam’s tweet been Kane Williamson or Steve Smith, say, the impact wouldn’t quite have been as much, even if the import would have been. That it was Kohli to whom the message was addressed by a respected and celebrated star from across the border lent new meaning and dimension in a world that places so much emphasis on such intangibles.

Azam has already captured the imagination of cricket fans worldwide, Indians included, with his breath-taking batting in all conditions, against all opponents, in all formats. There is an unhurried, old-world charm to his approach, but he isn’t averse to sprinkling his game with the modern and the quirky. With this latest off-field salvo, he has added the admiration of the Indian supporter to the respect he enjoyed hitherto.

Kohli reciprocated in kind with a heartfelt reply two days later: “Thank you. Keep shining and rising. Wish you all the best.” He rounded off the tweet with a clap emoji. Predictably, he too swept fans off their feet, reiterating that in the alleged, cut-throat world of dog-eat-dog competitive sport, there is always a place for grace, kindness, understanding and humanness.

Thank you. Keep shining and rising. Wish you all the best 👏

— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) July 16, 2022

Two of the greatest tennis champs of all time, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, share a relationship that defies convention. The older Swiss and the battle-scarred Spaniard enjoy a rivalry that has transcended the ordinary; they have left no stone unturned in their bid to outdo each other on the court, but their bond borders on the scarcely believable. Nadal views Federer as the torchbearer of grace and civility, the Swiss is avuncular in his treatment of the younger man. It’s a mutual admiration society non pareil.

It’s not as if the team environs of cricket don’t lend themselves to such bonds. It’s inevitable, given the shared history and the ups and downs that have characterised Indo-Pak relations, that such interplays receive more than their fair share of attention, which isn’t necessarily the worst thing given the plethora of issues that dog individuals on both sides of the border.

The Azam-Kohli bromance, for want of a better word, isn’t the first instance of Indian and Pakistani cricketers rising above the expected mundane and living up to the role model status conferred upon them by the outside world. Agreed, there have been the occasional skirmishes – Javed Miandad jumping up and down like a frog, imitating Kiran More’s histrionics (World Cup, Sydney, 1992), Shoaib Akhtar and Harbhajan Singh having a go at each other (Asia Cup, Dambulla, 2010), Gautam Gambhir and Shahid Afridi engaging in pow-wows (multiple times, different parts of the world). But from the time the two teams have played against each other, they have enjoyed an amiable, fun-filled and extremely close-knit bonding, and never mind if it doesn’t fit the popular narrative where players from the two teams should be daggers drawn, friendship be damned.

It’s amazing how often, and often how privately, players from one nation have bailed out those from the other from a primarily cricketing standpoint. In 1987, for instance, in Sunil Gavaskar’s last Test with the master batsman spearheading a single-handed assault on a tricky target on an absolute minefield, Pakistani spinners Iqbal Qasim and Tauseef Ahmed benefitted from Bishan Bedi’s words of wisdom. In front of a rapt audience of two, the magical left-arm spinner touted the virtues of keeping things simple and allowing the pitch to do the rest. That’s exactly what Qasim and Tauseef did, bowling their team to a series-clinching 16-run win.

Two years later in 1989, it was the turn of Zaheer Abbas to return the compliment, on India’s first visit to Pakistan in a decade. Mohammad Azharuddin was in the middle of an ordinary run, his problems all too obvious to anyone who cared to cast even a casual glance. Indeed, his place in the side was under threat and it was only due to an injury to another batsman that he hung on, temporarily. Zaheer, the former Pakistani captain who made runs for fun, especially against India, suggested a slight change in grip that, he said, would help Azhar immensely. The grateful Hyderabadi latched on to the advice, made the necessary change and soon conjured a dazzling hundred. By Azhar’s admission, that small alteration brought him several thousand exquisite Test runs in a career that lasted a further 11 years.

More than 25 years on, Azhar called up Younis Khan, the exceptional Pakistani batsman all at sea against swing in England, and told him that he would be better off standing outside his crease to meet the ball before it could start swinging. Somewhat taken by surprise that Azhar had taken the trouble of calling him up from Hyderabad, Younis put the plan in motion immediately and slammed a double-hundred in the next Test at The Oval, openly thanking Azhar for his inputs after being declared the Player of the Match.

These are but a few instances of Indian and Pakistani greats helping each other out, solicited or otherwise, with their wisdom and nous. Gavaskar’s role in Inzamam-ul-Haq ridding himself of the gremlins of self-doubt when it came to playing the short ball, and Wasim Akram’s mentoring of Ashish Nehra and Irfan Pathan are further examples of sport sweeping aside such irritants as borders and limits and the pompous haranguing of jingoism.

The Azam-Kohli exchange is in keeping with that tradition, and that’s no surprise because at the end of the day, these are two young men trying to be the best versions of not just the batsmen they can be but also the human beings they are. And therein lies the power of sport — as a unifier without peer, as the medium that destroys barriers and foments feel-good and bonhomie.