Legendary Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting has said Pakistan batter Babar Azam should use Virat Kohli’s method to bounce back to form. However, Babar has been in terrible form lately, as the selectors even recently rested him after the first test of the series against England. Moreover, he hasn’t scored a half-century in the last 18 innings in Tests and also didn’t have a great time with the bat in the T20 World Cup 2024 as well.

“The biggest challenge is how they get Babar back into their side. They’ve got to find a way to get Babar back into form and back into their [Test] team. You know, when you look at (Babar’s) numbers, it’s been a bit like the stuff that we were talking about with Virat [Kohli] earlier on,” Ponting said on the ICC Review.

The former Australia captain also compared Babar Azam’s slump with Virat Kohli’s and mentioned how Kohli took himself away from the game to get into a good mindset. However, Ponting also said that how Babar should also adopt the same method and take a break to come back recharged as well.

“Sometimes – and I think Virat was on record saying this – that little bit of a break that he had, he took himself away from the game for a while to freshen up and sort out some things that he needed to sort out,” he added.

“This might be exactly what Babar needs. Maybe Babar needs to get away for a while and stop trying too hard. Lock the kit bag away for a while, and think about something else and then hopefully come back recharged, because we know at his best he’s as good as anyone going around. Hopefully we get to see that in the back half of his career again” Ricky Ponting concluded.