Pak vs Ind: Beg you to 'stay away from our king', Babar Azam's fans tell Virat Kohli

Former skipper of the Indian cricket team, Virat Kohli, is being asked by Pakistanis on social media to stay away from team captain Babar Azam.

As alarming as that sounds, it was all part of a meme fest that kicked off when the Indian team decided to hit the nets for some practice ahead of the start of the Asia Cup in UAE, and found their competition right there.

It was only natural for players from both sides to meet one another and so, Kohli and Babar, too, walked up to each other to exchange pleasantries as the Pakistan team were leaving.

This meeting between the teams remained a subject of conversation between social media users for many days.

Since both skippers shook hands on the occasion, a popular theme was that Babar is supposedly unable to perform as well as he usually does this tournament because of coming into contact with Kohli.

The man dubbed "King" Kohli by Indian media has been plagued by a run of poor form and has been relieved of his captaincy of all formats since late last year after a dismal showing at the Twenty20 World Cup.

Here's a look at some memes that did the rounds after the two skippers' handshake was photographed:

"Please, stay away from our son," wrote one user in jest.

"I beg you please, stay away from our king," wrote another.

This user even went so far as to say both players "exchanged forms" when they shook hands.

Kohli made scores of 35 and 59* in two knocks so far against Pakistan and Hong Kong, respectively, while Babar only managed 10 and 9 against India and Hong Kong, respectively.

Pakistan and India are set to lock horns once more tonight at 7pm at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.