How Joe Root Has Left Kohli, Smith And Williamson Behind As A Test Cricketer?

Joe Root has emerged as the best Test player in the last four years [X]Joe Root has emerged as the best Test player in the last four years [X]

Cricket is lucky to have been graced by artists like Sir Donald Bradman, Sunil Gavaskar, Sir Vivian Richards, Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar and many others. With the evolution of the game, many players have come into the fray and have established themselves as the great of the game. 

After the Sachin-Lara-Ponting era, cricket fans were ushered into the world of the Fab 4. The Fab Four comprises - Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Kane Williamson and Joe Root. These four players have taken the art of batting to new heights and have added to the legacy. 

With time, different aspects of these players evolved more and brought out different layers in their game. 

While talking about Test cricket in the last few years, Joe Root has gone ahead of his competitions. Let us try to analyse how Root has left his competitors behind.


Overall Career

Players
Matches
Runs
Average
100s
Joe Root14111,80449.8031
Kane Williamson
1008,74355.0632
Steve Smith1099,68557.0032
Virat Kohli1138.84849.1029

If we take a look at the overall career of these four players, then the plain numbers suggest that Steve Smith is ahead of the other three. So, in this case, we can say that Smith is ahead of his competitors.


Numbers in the last four years

Let us take a look at the average of these players in Test Cricket in the last four years. 

 Virat Kohli - 28.21, 26.50, 55.92, 29.00

Steve Smith - 53.75, 58.40, 42.23, 30.43

Kane Williamson - 65.83, 74.00, 57.92, 68.57

Joe Root - 61.00, 45.75, 65.58, 38.80

The average of the players in the last four players show that, Joe Root and Kane Williamson have went ahead of the other two. 

Kane Williamson might have the better average in three of these four years, it must be kept in mind, that during this period he has played only 14 Tests, whereas Joe Root has played 44. Also, most of the 14 matches played by Williamson is in home conditions, while Root has proved his consistency all-round the world.


Adaptibility to the demands of the game

There has been a change in the approach of the English team in the way they play Test since 2022. With Brendon McCullum joining them as a coach, they have tried to play an aggressive brand of cricket. The biggest positive aspect of Joe Root's gameplay has been the way he has adapted to this new brand of cricket. He has owned this aggressive approach and has succeeded in adding a new layer of dynamism to his batting. On the other hand, the other three are still carrying forward the conventional style of Test cricket. The adaptability of Joe Root and the way he has evolved his game to adjust to modernisation keeps him ahead of the competitors.