Veteran New Zealand national cricket team player Tim Southee recently picked the best batsman among the Fab Four, which includes Kane Williamson, Virat Kohli, Joe Root and Steve Smith.
The Fab Four batsmen have dominated the world of cricket for the past decade and recently, there has been a lot of debate about who is the best batsman among Smith, Kohli, Root and Williamson.
In terms of numbers, Virat Kohli is miles ahead of his competition in the white-ball formats but in red-ball cricket, Root, Williamson and Smith all average better than the Indian batting maestro.
Kohli has scored over 13,000 runs in ODIs and over 4,000 runs in T20Is, while Smith, Root and Williamson are yet to reach the 7,000-run mark in ODIs or the 3,000-run mark in T20Is. In Test cricket, all batsmen have scored more than 8,000 runs, and Root is at the top as he has scored over 13,000 runs.
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Meanwhile, on Sunday, New Zealand star Tim Southee weighed in on the Fab Four debate, ranking Kane Williamson superior to Smith, Root and Kohli.
“I am probably the player who has bowled to Kane the most times in the nets. It is always a tough challenge for us as bowlers to be tested by one of the best in the world in the nets day in and day out. Watching Kane do it first-hand has been incredible. The others are phenomenal as well. There is a reason they are called the Fab Four,” Tim Southee said on the eve of New Zealand’s one-off Test match against Afghanistan, as quoted by the Indian Express.
Here is the statistical comparison of the Fab Four:
| Player | Format | Matches played | Entrance | Runs scored | Highest Score | Average | Success rate | 100 years | 1950s |
| Virat Kohli | Evidence | 113 | 191 | 8848 | 254* | 49.15 | 55,56 | 29 | 30 |
| ODI | 295 | 283 | 13906 | 183 | 58.18 | 93.54 | 50 | 72 | |
| T20I | 125 | 117 | 4188 | 122* | 48.69 | 137.04 | 1 | 38 | |
| Steve Smith | Evidence | 109 | 195 | 9685 | 239 | 56.97 | 53.5 | 32 | 41 |
| ODI | 158 | 142 | 5446 | 164 | 43.91 | 87.41 | 12 | 33 | |
| T20I | 67 | 55 | 1094 | 90 | 24.86 | 125.45 | 0 | 5 | |
| Joe Root | Evidence | 145 | 265 | 12377 | 254 | 50.93 | 56.98 | 34 | 64 |
| ODI | 171 | 160 | 6522 | 133* | 47.6 | 86.77 | 16 | 39 | |
| T20I | 32 | 30 | 893 | 90* | 35.72 | 126.3 | 0 | 5 | |
| Kane Williamson | Evidence | 100 | 176 | 8743 | 251 | 54.98 | 51.41 | 32 | 34 |
| ODI | 165 | 157 | 6810 | 148 | 48.64 | 81.38 | 13 | 45 | |
| T20I | 93 | 90 | 2575 | 95 | 33.44 | 123.08 | 0 | 18 |
Afghanistan have been an improving team for several years now – Tim Southee
New Zealand is set for a big Test season as they will play three matches against India after the one-off match against Afghanistan. They will also host England for a Test series.
On this, Tim Southee said that the upcoming Test matches are a big challenge for them and they need to properly manage the multi-format cricketers. Tim Southee said:
“It’s a challenge for all teams. For players who play in multiple formats, you have to balance the changing nature of busy schedules, so we haven’t played Test cricket for a while, we’re very excited and looking forward to playing Test cricket.
“For us as a team, playing nine Test matches in a short space of time is exciting and something we don’t often get to do.”
Talking about Afghanistan, the team that crushed the Black Caps in the recent 2024 T20 World Cup, Tim Southee said that they always put up a fight and have improved a lot. Tim Southee said:
“Afghanistan have been a team that have improved over the years and every time you face them you know you are going to struggle, especially in these conditions. We saw at the T20 World Cup how dangerous this team can be.
“They have gained a lot of confidence from the success they had not only in the T20 World Cup but also in the One-Day World Cup last year in India and they are still new to the Test format but I am sure this is a format they will want to continue to grow in as well, as they have done in the other two formats.”
Meanwhile, the one-off Test between New Zealand and Afghanistan will be played at the Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground in Greater Noida from September 9 to 13.
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