Joe Root is a notch below Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson and Steve Smith: Sunil Gavaskar opens on FAB 4

The fab four is a category running errands in international cricket and has the best batsmen of this generation. Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson and Joe Root were considered as the original fab four. Root had sort of lost a little limelight because of his form for the past couple of years. 

However, with his three back to back Test centuries two of which were double hundreds, Root has once again established himself as one of the top four batsmen in the world right now. Former Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar gave his opinion on the entire debate whether Root falls in that category anymore. 

During a recent interaction, the legendary batsman was asked if he considers Root as the best batsman in the world, to which Gavaskar didn’t agree. He did praise Root for batting abilities but also said that he feels Smith, Kohli and Williamson are actually better than the England skipper in Test cricket. 

I don’t think Joe Root is the best batsman in the world: Sunil Gavaskar

“He is very very good. But I don’t think he is the best batsman in the world. There are four contenders for that and he is amongst the four contenders. But I think he is just a notch below the other three,” said Gavaskar while speaking on Star Sports’ show Cricket Connected.

Gavaskar then had some words of praise for Root for his knock of 218 runs in the first innings of the Chennai Test, which England won by 227 runs and grabbed a much needed 1-0 lead in the high profile series.

“What was most impressive about Joe Root’s double ton was the fact that he was so confident from the word go and the positivity with which he moved either forward or he went back,” Gavaskar said while making points of observation into Root’s batting in the Indian conditions. 

On the same show, former England cricketer Mark Butcher said Root is the best batsman at this moment as he has been scoring so many runs, unlike the other three. “He is the best player playing right now because the others haven’t got many Test cricket going at the moment. So the form he is in, there is no one better than him right now,” said the former England batsman.

Root has till now played three Test matches in 2021 and scored three centuries. The first two hundreds were scores of 228 and 186 runs. The England skipper has an average of 50.04 in Tests, compared to Virat Kohli’s 53.2, Williamson’s 54.3 and Smith’s 61.8.