'I can only pray for him': Rizwan reacts to Kohli's off-form

Pakistan star Mohammad Rizwan put his weight firmly behind "champion player" Virat Kohli to roar back to form quickly. Rizwan said he would "pray" for the India great as he believes Kohli is a hard-working cricketer who has achieved great things in his illustrious career but is currently going through a tough phase. "I will say that he is a champion player but at this stage, we can pray for him because he is a hard-working cricketer," Rizwan told Cricwick.

Kohli, who quit as India's T20I and Test captain and in between was removed as the ODI skipper, has not scored a century at any level for more than two and half years now. 

It won't be an exaggeration to say that Kohli is also in the middle of one his worst ever IPL seasons. The former India and RCB captain has scored only 194 runs at an average of 19 in IPL 2022 so far.

Rizwan, whose photos of embracing Kohli after the India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup match last year had gone viral, said every player goes through such a phase but the wicketkeeper-batter believes Kohli will regain control soon.

"And tough times do come and things do get easier too. Every player has scored centuries and got out on pairs and this goes on. I can only pray for him and I am hopeful that through hard work, he will control all the things," Rizwan, who is currently playing for Susses in English County, added.

Kohli, for the first time in his 15-year-long IPL career has registered three first-ball ducks in a single season of IPL. 

In a video uploaded by Royal Challengers Bangalore, Danish Sait, asked Kohli about his golden ducks in this IPL and the prolific right-hander gave a candid response.

"First-ball ducks. After the second one, I actually realised what It feels like to be like you (Mr Nags' character), absolutely helpless. It hasn't happened to me ever in my career, I think. I have seen everything now. It's been so long, I have seen everything in this game."