After Babar Azam, England captain Jos Buttler rallies behind Virat Kohli: 'It's refreshing for us that he is human'

Kohli is seeking a return to form, and a first century since November 2019: it's been an uncharacteristic barren patch, and has many scratching their heads about where his runs have gone.

Virat Kohli's run of scratchy form continued at Lord's as he was only able to make 16 before poking at one wide outside off by David Willey, caught behind. It's now the latest in a long string of low scores for Kohli, who looks far from his fluent best and has come under massive criticism for it. English captain Jos Buttler, after guiding his team to a huge 100-run victory to level the series 1-1, stuck up for Kohli, claiming he's not far from his best at any moment.

Virat Kohli; Jos Buttler (AP)

Speaking in the post-match press conference, Buttler said "I suppose in a little way it’s quite refreshing for the rest of us that he [Kohli] is human and he can have a couple of low scores as well, but look he has been one of the best players, if not the best player in ODI cricket in the world."

Kohli is seeking a return to form, and a first century since November 2019: it's been an uncharacteristic barren patch, and has many scratching their heads about where his runs have gone.

"So he’s been a fantastic player for so many years and all batters, it just proves, go through runs of form where they don’t perform as well as they can do sometimes, but certainly as an opposition captain, you know a player of that class is always due, so you’re hoping that it doesn’t come against us," continued Buttler. Kohli did show a touch of old, playing some elegant drives and confidently guiding the ball to third man for singles. However, it wasn't meant to last, as Willey's left-arm angle became the undoing for the former Indian captain.

"Yeah, incredibly surprised, as I said, his record speaks for himself. The matches he’s won for India and yeah, why would you question that?” Buttler concluded. He's not the first overseas captain to stick up for Kohli's return to form and question the criticism he's facing lately: Pakistan captain Babar Azam also posted a tweet with a picture of him and Kohli, saying "This too shall pass."

Kohli is certainly receiving the backing of his colleagues and on-field rivals, which is a heartwarming vote of confidence and indicates the levels of camaraderie in modern cricket, which can only benefit players. However, for all that, Kohli must know that the only way to silence his naysayers is by proving them wrong, and scoring big runs yet again.

After Reece Topley's six-fer at Lord's, England's best ever men's ODI figures, India's momentum from the first ODI was halted. Now it goes to a winner-takes-all third ODI in Manchester, and if India have any hope of winning a series overseas, Kohli and other senior batters must step up to ensure they have the runs to help them in that task.