'Let the guy live in peace': Zimbabwe star backs Virat Kohli amid his woeful form for Team India

Team India superstar Virat Kohli has been struggling with the willow for quite a while now and has been on the receiving end of intense criticism from former cricketers and experts amid his woeful form. Kohli, who is regarded as one of the greatest batters of the generation, has not scored an international century for almost three years now and has failed to score runs consistently.

Kohli has been one of the most consistent batters across formats in the past decade but his recent slump in form has seen many raise questions over his spot in India's T20I squad ahead of the T20 World Cup. His failure to bounce back despite being backed by the team management has also been criticised by many.

However, Zimbabwe batter Sikandar Raza has backed Kohli to roar back to form soon and lauded the senior India batter for the contributions he has made to world cricket. Raza said the way Kohli has popularised fitness as the way forward in cricket and has been consistent across all three formats is commendable.

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"As much as cricket was all about fitness and xyz, the way he took that part forward for the younger generations to follow, I think that is commendable and people should give him enough credit for that. I feel like he is the ultimate all-format player and that has nothing to do with stats, what he has achieved, what he is going through, and what is he going to achieve; I am just speaking in general," Raza said on Anis Sajan's YouTube channel.

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When asked what advice would he like to give Kohli, who didn't enjoy the best of outings with the nat in India's recently-concluded tour of England, Raza said he is not knowledgeable enough to advise a guy with over 20,000 runs in international cricket. Raza asked Kohli's critics to leave him alone and let him regain his touch.

"I don't think I am knowledgeable enough or experienced enough to give a guy advice who has over 20,000 career runs. What do I tell him? I can't tell him anything. If anything, I can stay silent and also reckon people to do the same and let the guy live in peace. Just leave him alone and hopefully, he will soon find his feet," Raza added.

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Raza will be in action for Zimbabwe in their upcoming three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe which gets underway from August 18. Kohli is not part of India's squad as he has been rested for the series and will return to action in the upcoming Asia Cup 2022 later this month.