Shane Watson Ranks Five Best Test Batters; Babar Azam And Steve Smith Miss No.1 Spot

Former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson ranked five best Test batters of modern-day cricket. Over the years, the enthusiastic fans have created a group of ‘Fab Four’ consisting of Virat Kohli (India), Steve Smith (Australia), Kane Williamson (New Zealand) and Joe Root (England).

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam has changed the course of the club with his terrific performances with the bat since his debut in 2016. Babar’s 196 off 425 balls against Australia in the second Test in Karachi salvaged Pakistan to force a draw from a losing position.

Australian batter Marnus Labuschagne rose to the occasion with 2390 runs in 26 Tests and averages 54.32. However, the 27-year-old wasn’t part of Watson’s list as the minimum criteria set as 40 Test matches, which made the Queensland player ineligible for the list.

Watson, who played 59 Test matches for Australia, ranked former Indian skipper Virat Kohli as No.1 in the top-five Test batters’ list. Watson’s list of the best five Test batters:

1. Virat Kohli

2. Babar Azam 

3. Steve Smith

4. Kane Williamson

5. Joe Root

I am always going to say Virat Kohli: Shane Watson

Although Kohli is going through a rough patch in international cricket as his runs have dipped since the game resumed post-pandemic period. Kohli amassed 841 runs in his last 30 Test innings since 2020 with six 50-plus scores.

The former Indian skipper has also slipped to 10th position in the current ICC Test rankings with all other four batters present in the top-five rankings. However, Watson didn’t bother to view the recent performances and ranked Kohli No.1 for his high-level intensity to play any format.

“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 every time he goes out to play,” Watson told Isa Guha while doing snap analysis in a video posted on ICC’s official website. 

“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,” the former Australian added. 

Steve Smith has just started to come off a little bit: Shane Watson

England Test skipper Joe Root accumulated 1708 Test runs in 15 matches in 2021 to become the third batter to score more than 1700 Test runs in a calendar year after Pakistan’s Mohammad Yousuf (1,788 in 2006) and West Indies great Sir Viv Richards (1,710 in 1976).

While explaining the positioning of Root and Smith, Watson said:

“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.

“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 as he has done in the past.

“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.”

Williamson hasn’t played international cricket since the first Test against India in Kanpur in November last year. The New Zealand skipper has been struggling with his elbow issues but is currently leading Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2022.

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