Steve Smith, Joe Root, Kane Williamson do not experience as much pressure as Virat Kohli: Parthiv Patel, Tamim Iqbal

Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Kane Williamson, and Joe Root burst onto the international scene around the same time and took the cricketing world by storm with their consistent performances across formats. Fans fondly named these players collectively as Fab Four. They have often compared them based on the different attributes each of them possesses. However, in recent years, Kohli has fallen the pecking order in the longest format of the game as he has not been anywhere near his lofty standards.

Former international cricketers Parthiv Patel and Tamim Iqbal claimed that the rest of the Fab Four do not encounter the same pressure as Virat Kohli. Compared to the three, Kohli hasn't had a great time in Test cricket, as he has scored just two fifties and two hundreds since 2023.

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Before the start of the second Test at Green Park, Kanpur on Friday, September 27, Parthiv and Tamim were asked if Kohli has been facing pressure in recent times. The former Indian wicketkeeper said that he doesn't feel pressure while playing and Smith, Root and Williamson don't go through what the Indian stalwart is going through.

"I don't think he's feeling that kind of pressure. And as you rightly mentioned that, I don't think Smith or Joe Root or Williamson can even think of the type of pressure he must be feeling. The pressure of expectation, that is huge. He has set his standard so high that even if he scores 60 or 70, that comes across as a failure," Parthiv said.

"Because every time he walks in, we expect him to score 100. We expect him to play with that kind of intensity, which he has always been playing. But you have to understand that he is also getting older but that zeal to play Test cricket and to do well, does not die, and it will never die is as long as Virat Kohli is playing Test cricket. But yeah, I think I don't think he would be feeling that kind of pressure to perform. But the expectation of us is always high because of the standard which he has set," he added.

Those three combined do not have the similar pressure: Tamim Iqbal

Tamim said that Kohli is the best batter among the four in white-ball cricket as he has won several games single-handedly for his nation. The former Bangladesh captain also mentioned that the pressure Kohli faces is more than the pressure experienced by the other three combined.

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"And also, I think yes in Test match cricket, the Fab Four that we are talking about have done wonders. Because in Test match cricket, basically as a batter, you can't win a game single-handedly. There are two innings and everything."

"But we also call them Fab 4 in white-ball cricket and hands down, in what Kohli has done for India, amount of games that he has won single-handedly, I'm pretty sure none of the other three has won that many of the games. And as you mentioned because of the amount of pressure that he goes through, I think those three combined do not have the similar pressure," said Tamim.