5 Indian players who got a lot of backing when they were going through a bad phase

'There is a tide in the affairs of men' is one of the most famous sayings of Brutus from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Good fortune does not last long and for some, the unpredictability of human life makes it a glorious gamble just to stay alive. One of the biggest reasons of popularity of sports in human culture is because it is at best a metaphor for the human condition.And then there is cricket - the game, as they say, of glorious uncertainty. How many promising starlets touted to be greats got washed away along the lanes of ignominy? Think of the number of promising cricketers had to end their careers as they were unceremoniously dropped when they were going through bad patches.No matter how great you are, there will be times in professional sports when you will not hit the purple patch for a period of time. The number of usual detractors who feel a sense of uncanny schadenfreude in criticising others is by no means less. But nothing matters more at that time than true support which often goes on to resurrect and script great careers. Let us look at five Indian players who received a lot of support when they were going through bad patches. 

#5 Virat Kohli

Kohli is yet to recover from his slump

Virat Kohli was touted to be one of the greatest cricketers of the next generation. For some, even Tendulkar's records did not appear to be a touch too distant for Kohli. His prolific run of form had once led to predictions that there would be a time when every cricketing feat mentioned in the record books could be broken by this wonder-kid.

But whatever goes up must also come down. Kohli has been going through a rather indifferent run of form for the past one year. His bad run of form started during the Test series in England where he had problems with the moving ball outside the off-stump. But even a return to the sub-continent did not change his fortunes - his plight continued against the West Indies fast bowlers.

Kohli received a lot of flak for his performances during the 2015 World Cup. Though he scored a century against Pakistan in the first match, he did very little after that. After India crashed out to Australia in the semi-final, what followed was an insensitive tirade against Kohli and his actress-girlfriend Anushka Sharma.

But such insensitive sensationalism seemed to have awakened Kohli's fans more. A lot of fans and important people took to the social media to quickly defend Kohli and criticise the juvenile backlash. While team director Ravi Shastri was vocal in his support for Kohli, former greats like Tendulkar and Dravid were also unflinching in their admiration for him.

Even while Kohli was going through a woeful run of form in England, the fans took to twitter to show their support and #WeBelieveInViratKohli started trending on social media. With reports emerging of Kohli having practised at the MCA facilities under the watchful eyes of Tendulkar, we can only be hopeful of Kohli's quick return to form.