The present generation of cricket fans should consider themselves lucky as we are witnessing some of the finest cricketers of all times playing in this era.
When it comes to batting, World Cricket is fascinated by the presence of the quartet popularly known as the Fab 4, comprising of the likes of Virat Kohli (India), Steve Smith (Australia), Kane Williamson (New Zealand) and Joe Root (England).
Not to forget there is a Babar Azam too who time and again has proved and redeemed his worth in World Cricket.
But the bigger question remains, "Who is currently the Best Batsman in Test Cricket?"
Couple of years back the answer to this question was in between 2 contenders- Steve Smith and Virat Kohli.
Smith who is often touted as the Best Thing to happen in Test Cricket for Australia after Don Bradman has scored only 1 century in the last 2 years, while Virat is still in the middle of his famous century drought since 2019 that is eluding him from his 71st century.
Kane Williamson on the other hand has 3 double centuries in his last 3 years but consistency and injury has eluded him a lot.
Babar Azam too has had only 1 century in the last 2 years.
However with 10 centuries in the last 18 months, Joe Root has definitely carved a niche ahead of the others in Test Cricket for sure. Root who was said to struggle in Sub-continent conditions scored 2 Big hundreds that included a valiant 228 when England toured Srilanka in 2021. He then scored 4 back to back centuries against India, one in India and 3 in England and even scored a double century in it. Root also touched the milestone of scoring a hundred in his 100th Test match.
However Root was not done as he brought up two back to back centuries against West Indies at the Carribbean and has even scored a century against New Zealand in the on-going series.
2021 was the year of Joe Root as he ended up scoring 1708 runs with 6 hundreds and 4 half-centuries that included 1 double century with an average of 61. He has also scored 4 centuries in 2022.
With such a brilliant run, Root has also ended up scoring 10000 runs in Test Cricket with 27 centuries in his name leaving his competitors far behind. Virat Kohli is the next man with 8043 runs with 27 centuries.
Being the youngest of the Fab 4 in age, Root is currently aged 31 and has atleast 5 years of cricket left in him. The highest runs scored in Test Cricket is 15921 by the great Sachin Tendulkar. Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis follow the suit with 13378 and 13289 runs respectively.
The record of being the highest run scorer for England in Test Cricket belongs to Sir Alastair Cook who finished his career with 12472 runs.
With age and form in his side, Root can definitely aspire to reach the maximum Test runs scored as he needs to bring up atleast 1000 runs per year in his next 5 years.
Now it remains to be seen whether Root can root his name in the pinnacle of glory or not.
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