Smith, Root, Williamson, Kohli

[JG22]

De Villiers seems forgotten in this debate
Can't fathom why

Well age for one but mainly because he hasn't actually been playing that much cricket

 

[Hellgood]

Yeah it's more the era of player as the four mentioned all came through and have developed in roughly same space of time hence the direct comparisons. Whereas AB was a champ before any of their debut's (and as JG mentioned has been a persona non-grata in test cricket for over a year now).

 

[Kyptastic]

De Villiers seems forgotten in this debate
Can't fathom why

To be fair, these four get brought up together because they're all around the same age and debuted around the same time. AB (and Warner, Amla, Cook etc.) are a few years older and so don't fit as well into this generation. You could argue that a De Kock is easily as good as these four, but due to age and different role he doesn't quite fit in the same conversation.

 

[Hellgood]

Great article by Kimber on this exact topic.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/1107557.html

Love his apt description of Williamson's batting.

 

[PhatBoy]

Great article by Kimber on this exact topic.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/1107557.html

Love his apt description of Williamson's batting.

I guess when you factor in all formats he's pretty spot on.

In test match terms there's a number of players you could argue have busted up this quartet's monopoly over the four year period he speaks of, though.

 

[The Speaker]

One's out of the WC now, three remain.

 

[eth-dog]

Williamson stepped up yesterday, Kohli got 1. Huge difference.

 

[Zach Package]

Virat in WC knockout games

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

Virat in WC knockout games

View attachment 707066

Yes, I'm beginning to think Kohli may be over-rated when talking about the best batsmen in the world. He's not even the best batsman in his team.

 

[Zach Package]

Yes, I'm beginning to think Kohli may be over-rated when talking about the best batsmen in the world. He's not even the best batsman in his team.

I think it’s reached the stage where he officially has a but.

Of late he’s been a little spoon to Pujara in the test series against us and to Rohit in the WC

 

[mouncey2franklin]

People love to hate Kohli but his after-match press conference yesterday was all class.

Has failed in a few big matches and there are enough data points now to suggest it is more than mere coincidence.

Still one of the best batsmen the game has seen so far this century.

As for Smith, his own country ruined his reputation and legacy. Shame, Australia, Shame.

Williamson is about to lead his tiny little country to a WC win. Legend of the game, for mine.

Root's batting is superb to watch. Will be enjoying his innings even if it is against Australia.

 

[Ishikawa]

Yes, I'm beginning to think Kohli may be over-rated when talking about the best batsmen in the world. He's not even the best batsman in his team.

I think it’s reached the stage where he officially has a but.

Of late he’s been a little spoon to Pujara in the test series against us and to Rohit in the WC

I think that's being a tad unfair (also would strongly dispute him playing second fiddle to Pujara in tests). He's still an outstanding batsman across all forms of the game and remarkably prolific. Williamson hearts, Root and Smith are all brilliant players too and I feel a genuine argument can be made for all of them as the best batsman in the world without any suffering from comparison.

 

[Damon_3388]

Kohli's all-round record is flat-out ridiculous these days:



Don't know if he'll ever reach Sachin's number of Test hundreds (51), but he scores Test hundreds more frequently (one every 5.31 innings) than Sachin did (one every 6.45 innings).

Of the 22 players (including Kohli and Steve Smith) that have scored 25+ Test centuries, only five have a 1:1 or better conversion rate as well - Kohli, Michael Clarke (28 hundreds, 27 fifties), Don Bradman (29 hundreds, 13 fifties), Matthew Hayden (30 hundreds, 29 fifties) and Younis Khan (34 hundreds, 33 fifties).

Given that he's just three weeks away from his 31st birthday, Kohli should also comfortably pass Sachin's number of ODI hundreds as well, and scores tons in that format (one every 5.35 innings) far more frequently than Sachin did (one every 9.22 innings) as well.

 

[Belnakor]

I can't see Kolhi playing 160 tests with the reduction of tests being played lately. He would need to be still playing in his in 40s to play that many, so i can't see him getting near 51 test hundreds.

His ODI record is incredible, his Test record is that of an all time great but he is at the peak of his powers now too - almost all players drop off towards the end of their career.

I would expect he'll end up with an average around 48-52 depending on how many tests he plays against shit opposition.

 

[The Passenger]

In test cricket, I don't think there is much doubt Smith and Kohli have broken away and clearly occupy the top two spots in the batting pecking order.

With Root dropping off a touch in 2018 and then further in 2019, Williamson occupies a spot at #3 on his own now with a relatively large-ish gap to the two above and whomever you would consider #4.

In ODI cricket it's not even a contest. Kohli is miles in front of anyone else currently playing and arguably the greatest ODI batsmen the game has seen.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

I've seen a fair bit of Indian cricket lately, and IMHO, Kohli's not even the best batsman in the Indian team, let alone the world. I rate Rohit Sharma ahead of Kohli ATM, he makes a ton every time I see him bat.

 

[ioppolo]

I've seen a fair bit of Indian cricket lately, and IMHO, Kohli's not even the best batsman in the Indian team, let alone the world. I rate Rohit Sharma ahead of Kohli ATM, he makes a ton every time I see him bat.

Averages 28 overseas

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

Averages 28 overseas

He's an opener now, made a double hundred today. Best batsman in India.

 

[Belnakor]

I've seen a fair bit of Indian cricket lately, and IMHO, Kohli's not even the best batsman in the Indian team, let alone the world. I rate Rohit Sharma ahead of Kohli ATM, he makes a ton every time I see him bat.

most only watch Indian home series

 

[Marcel Proust]

Best-Ever Test Batting
ICC Player Rankings

All Time top Test batsmen


Don Bradman

Steve Smith

Len Hutton

Jack Hobbs

Ricky Ponting

Peter May

Garry Sobers

Kumar Sangakkara

Clyde Walcott

Viv Richards

 

[Bareth Garry]

I think it’s reached the stage where he officially has a but.

Of late he’s been a little spoon to Pujara in the test series against us and to Rohit in the WC

Interesting that at the time of this post Kohli's test average was touching 55 but now he has dropped below 50. He may have officially had a but in 2019 but I don't think anyone saw this decline coming. No century in international cricket since 2019. His last century was his 70th in international cricket putting him just one behind Ponting in the all time list of most international centuries. But he's been stuck on 70 centuries while batting more than 70 innings for India since then without getting to three figures.

 

[Trojan90]

Only looking at test cricket.

All past their absolute peak now. Seems Smith is well clear of the others with Root hanging in. Kohli and Williamson have dropped off completely.

On Williamson, he only averages 38.7 against SA, Eng, Aus, Ind.

SENA/Ind averages:
Smith 58.8
Root 49.7
Kohli 46.4
Williamson 38.7

Probably only a few years left in these guys. I can’t see the pecking order changing from here.

 

[Some Idiot]

Kohli might be considered the batsman of the generation because of his ridiculous white ball record, given that T20 is slowly taking over.

 

[PhatBoy]

Kohli might be considered the batsman of the generation because of his ridiculous white ball record, given that T20 is slowly taking over.

Reality is he’s probably the greatest white ball player in history and that’s a big accolade but it can only cover his test drop off so much.

A renaissance to bump him back over 50 may give him that claim, gee Smith is hard to fault though even if his white ball record is only that of a ‘very good’ player rather than an all time great

 

[damochandler]

Smith and kohli had the same amount of test centuries 3 years ago. Kohli hasn’t scored one in 3 years and he’s struggled