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Cricket Players'It's nearly superhuman what he is able to do': Virat Kohli takes No. 1 spot in Australia legend's ranking of 'Fab Five'
The debate as to who the best batter is among the 'Fab Five' of international cricket may never end, but one Australia legend has rated former India captain Virat Kohli ahead of everyone else in his ranking of the five phenomenal batters in world cricket today.
The debate as to who the best batter is among the 'Fab Five' of international cricket may never end, but one Australia legend has rated former India captain Virat Kohli ahead of everyone else in his ranking of the five phenomenal batters in world cricket today. The 'Fab 5' features Kohli, former Australia captain Steve Smith, England Test skipper Joe Root, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson and Pakistan skipper Babar Azam. For the longest time, this was merely a list of 'Fab 4' but Babar's rise as a world-class leading batter in the last couple of years had made him an unmissable part of it.
Ranking these top five batters will always spark debate and former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson has taken the punt to put Kohli above the rest when it comes to Test cricket. This is despite the fact that the former India captain has gone two years without a century in then format and that his overall run tally has been an underwhelming 725 runs from 14 Tests including five fifties. Yet, Watson believes that some of the things that Kohli has achieved in Test cricket are second to none.
"In Test match cricket, I am always going to say Virat Kohli. It's nearly superhuman, what he is able to do because he has such high intensity everytime he goes out to play. Watson said, about Kohli, who is currently ranked 10th in ICC Test batters, to Isa Guha when asked whom he rates as the best Test batsman on the ICC Review Show.
Watson's pick for the second-best Test batter was Babar, who is currently ranked fifth and has scored 769 runs in his last 10 Tests, more 216 more than Kohli at a better average and more half-centuries and hundreds.
"Babar Azam is playing incredibly well. It's great to be able to see how he has adapted his game to really move his game to Test cricket as well. Babar Azam would probably be No.2 at the moment," pointed out Watson.
For the No. 3 and 4 positions, Watson picked Smith and Williamson respectively. Smith, the No. 2 ranked Test batter in the world, has fallen off the radar a little in terms of getting centuries and big scores, but he still has over 700 runs in his last 10 Tests. As for Williamson, the Kiwi skipper has been battling elbow issues but in his previous 10 Tests, has scored 950 runs, the most among all five.
"Steve Smith has just started to come off a little bit. It looks like Smith has really started to play for time a little bit more and is not putting as much pressure on the bowlers as he did when was at his absolute best. For me, Steve has dropped down that list a little bit," added Watson.
"Kane Williamson has had a few elbow issues," Watson noted of the Kiwi's recent injury woes. Kane knows his game inside out and knows how to put pressure on bowlers in any conditions."
Finally, at No. 5 in Watson's pick is Root. The No. 4 ranked Test batter in the world has been consistent with the bat with over 770 runs in his last 10 Tests, but the fact that under him, England have returned disappointing results in Tests is what remains a concern.
"Joe Root recently scored a hundred but he has had a bit of time along the lines of Steve Smith where he hasn't been able to nail the big scores like he has done in the past," Watson said.
"It's incredible how these world-class batters just go through waves where instead of scoring those big hundreds, get the 70s-80s, but still have an impact on the game but are not able to really maintain that really high standard of getting those big runs as they have done in the past."
