Aakash Chopra Ignores Joe Root And Steve Smith, Names New Fab Four Of World Cricket
Published - 19 Feb 2020, 10:50 AM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:04 AM
Former India opener Aakash Chopra has named the new fab four of world cricket. For nearly a decade, India’s Virat Kohli, Australia’s Steve Smith, New Zealand’s Kane Williamson and England’s Joe Root formed the famous quartet. But while Kohli and Williamson have continued to perform as per their reputation, Root and Smith have failed to do so across formats.
The England Test captain has struggled to score big in recent times and has also faced criticism. He has also lost his place in England’s T20I team and recently admitted that he might struggle to make it to the team for this year’s T20 World Cup in Australia.
On the other hand, Smith continues to be one of the leading batsmen in Tests. However, his performance in ODIs and T20Is has left a lot to be desired. And with both Root and Smith struggling to perform across formats, Aakash Chopra has named a new fab four of world cricket.
The ex-cricketer-turned-commentator considered performances across all formats as a parameter to name the new fab four. He persisted with Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson before naming Pakistan’s Babar Azam and India’s Rohit Sharma in the list.
“I would keep Pakistan’s Babar Azam in the fab four. He stands shoulder to shoulder with India’s Virat Kohli. He is the number one batsman in T20Is, number-three in ODIs and number five in Test cricket. If you are in the top five in all three formats than how can you not be in the fab four of world cricket? He should be included in the fab four a 120 per cent,” said Aakash Chopra before naming Rohit Sharma in the list too while speaking on his YouTube channel.
“When we talk about the fab four of the world we talk about Australia’s Steve Smith, England’s Joe Root, New Zealand’s Kane Williamson and India’s Virat Kohli. Everyone around the globe believes that these are the most talented batsmen in the world,” Chopra continued.
“That is why they are the current fab four of international cricket. But is this right? In Test cricket you could maybe agree but there are challengers as well. But why don’t we look across three formats? I think if we look across all three formats a new fab four can be made,” he added.
Here is the video:
