Virat Kohli may be out of action at the moment with BCCI resting him for the tour against the West Indies but the former India captain remains in discussion at almost every cricket debate around the world. On Sunday, former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar announced his biopic “Rawalpindi Express' but when he hosted a Q&A session on social media for the fans, he was welcomed with a Virat Kohli question by a cricket admirer. Shoaib Akhtar, however, came up with a priceless response to the fan's question which is now going viral on the internet.

“One word for Virat Kohli #Rawalpindiexpressthefilm,” one fan asked him on Twitter and Shoaib Akhtar instantly replied to him saying, “Legend already.”

Virat Kohli has been going through an extended dry spell with the bat. During the recent tour of England, the former India captain managed to score just 76 runs in his six outings in a Test match, and two ODIs and T20Is each.

While he perished at scores of 11 and 20 in the rescheduled fifth and final Test against the Three Lions in Edgbaston, Virat Kohli was dismissed for 1 and 11 in the T20I games in Birmingham and Trent Bridge.

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Though he missed the first clash of the ODI series because of a groin injury, he didn't succeed in changing his fortunes in the remaining two 50-over matches as he registered a total of 33 runs, making 16 and 17 at the Lord's and Old Trafford respectively.

Before that Virat Kohli had a horror run in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as he could score only 341 runs at a mediocre average of 22.73 in 16 games in the tournament.

Virat Kohli last made a century in any form of international cricket in the historic Pink-ball Test against Bangladesh in November 2019.

Since then, he has gone 78 consecutive knocks without a three-figure score on the international stage.

However, it isn't the first time when Shoaib Akhtar has backed Virat Kohli amid heavy criticism from many former India cricketers, including Kapil Dev who caused a stir by calling for his ouster from India's T20 and ODI sides.

“I am hearing a lot of criticism about Virat Kohli. It is being said that he should be dropped. Virat Kohli is finished, this is right. There is nothing more left in his career, this is also right and he would not be able to do anything more in his career, this is right, these type of things other people are saying to me. I told them, Virat Kohli is the greatest player, in the last 10 years, if there has been any greatest player, it is Virat. He has 1-2 bad years, he still has scored runs, just the century has not come,” Akhtar said on his YouTube channel.

“You are just humiliating the guy in the media, to discredit him is not right, I do not know how can one talk about dropping him? Kapil Dev is my senior; I respect him and he has his own opinion. He is a legend; he can voice his opinion. A great cricketer can talk like that. Virat Kohli has 70 centuries and only a great player can score as many runs,” Shoaib Akhtar added.

“Virat should focus on his batting, if you do not perform, there is nothing wrong. All these things are happening, these are happening so that you become a bigger cricketer. You should not be scared; one should realise that they are up against a tough cricketer. It is important that you stay at the wicket, the more you stay in the middle, the better it will become for you. You should away from social media and not pay attention to the criticism,” the former Pakistan speedster concluded.

Earlier this month, India's 1983 World Cup-winning captain had caused ripples by suggesting in an interview that it was time to drop Virat Kohli from the national team's white-ball set-up.

“Yes, there will be a headache, but he will have to perform better,” Kapil Dev said. “If world No. 2 Test bowler Ashwin can be dropped from Test side then your No. 1 batter can also be dropped.”

“I hope Kohli scores runs. And if there's a [selection] challenge after that, it's a big one. At the moment, Virat Kohli isn't playing like the Kohli we know, the one that has made him a legend through his performances,” Kapil Dev elaborated.

“If he isn't performing, you can't continue to keep these boys [youngsters] out. I hope there's a healthy fight for selection, the youngsters should look to outperform Kohli. But Kohli needs to think, ‘yes at one point I was a big player, but I need to play like that No. 1 player again'. That's a problem for the team, it's not a bad problem,” Kapil Dev stated.