Kane Williamson, Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, and Joe Root — the debate about who is the best of the Fab Four is most likely on its last legs.
However, England’s Joe Root, who is on a record-breaking spree has pipped his three contemporaries with his sublime form and former England captains such as Alastair Cook and Michael Vaughan believe the 33-year-old has the age on his side and he can break Sachin Tendulkar’s record of the most Test runs. At present, Root is placed seventh in the highest run-scorer list in Test history, and with the amount of Test cricket England plays, he can certainly reach the feat.
Since 2020, Root has been a prolific run-getter. At the end of 2020, Root had 17 Test centuries, 10 fewer than Virat Kohli (27), nine fewer than Steve Smith (26), and six fewer than Williamson. Since the start of 2021, Root has turned the heat and has scored 17 Test centuries, while Kohli has managed only two, and Smith six. Kane Williamson, on the other hand, has smashed nine centuries in this period, but the New Zealand No 3 has played only 18 Tests in comparison to Root’s 48.
On Monday at the Greater Noida Sports Complex, Williamson will be playing his first Test match in six months. In the same period, Root is currently playing his sixth Test. However, with New Zealand playing nine Tests in the next three months, Williamson will have a chance to make the most of it.
The unassuming Williamson smiles when asked about the Fab Fours and Root’s current run of form.
“He’s just been something else for a period of time,” says Williamson. “Obviously, a lot of the discussion is going on around what he might be able to achieve in a number of years.”
“He (Root) has been phenomenal and obviously a big fan of his and have enjoyed watching not just his, but obviously those other guys (Kohli and Smith). Amazing players that have all sort of moved the game forward in a big way,” he added.
The final leg of the World Test Championship (WTC) will also decide the future of the modern greats. Certainly, Kohli and Smith are no longer the run-machine they used to be in their pomp. But the duo will have a chance to reinvent themselves in the coming months. Kohli, if available, has 10 Tests to rediscover his form in Test cricket, which had deserted him since 2019. For Smith, who has taken the role of opener, it will be the Border-Gavaskar Test series later this year, to assert his class.
The sub-continent challenge
Since making his Test debut in Ahmedabad in 2010 against India, Williamson averages 48.85 in the sub-continent, which is better than Steve Smith (47.83) and Joe Root (46.86). But despite the fact, Williamson feels playing in the sub-continent is always challenging.
“It’s a tough challenge whenever you play in these parts of the world,” he says. “We’re absolutely going to be challenged in a number of ways. I think it’s important for us as a team to look to grow throughout, pick up the experiences that we’re going to have over the next sort of two and half months and it would be better for the team.”
Williamson feels playing in the sub-continent will always be challenging and despite being in this part of the world so many times, one still needs to adjust their game.
“I think it’s absolutely about trying to adjust your game because we’re not here consistently in this format and it goes quite long intervals of not playing here. It is sort of familiarising yourself again,” he explains.
“For us as our last Test Match was sort of 6 months ago. For now, as a team it’s really good connecting as a red ball group and looking to apply our skills, our plans as well as we can. Obviously, it would be different.”
The WTC race
It was under the leadership of Williamson when New Zealand won the inaugural WTC title in 2021 when they defeated India by eight wickets at Southampton.
Currently, New Zealand are placed in third place behind Australia and India on the WTC points table, and the next three months will decide the fate of the former champions, whether they will be playing their second final at the iconic Lord’s.
“In some ways, it’s like a tournament sport, isn’t it? Even though it’s over a longer period of time,” says Williamson on WTC.
“The context around Test cricket with the Test Championship is really key and brought out a lot of really exciting games. And so naturally having six Test matches together is a big part of our Test championship calendar and it is something we’re really excited about. You know such a volume of Test cricket that we don’t usually get and that too obviously in this part of the world.”
