Rating the 10 current best batsmen in Test cricket

Test cricket is and will always remain the epitome of the gentleman’s game and tests the skills and abilities of players to the maximum. With five days to play over the same playing surface, batsmen are often stretched to their limits in order to get runs under any kind of conditions.

Sometimes, runs have to be scored at a frantic pace even in the five-day game, while sometimes one needs to be patient as saving the match is on the line, or a chase requires exemplary batting, a batsman needs to be ready to perform all tasks and that’s why we are choosing ten of the best Test batsmen in today’s time and ranking them according to their abilities, records, and talents.

Here are Ranking the 10 best Test batsmen of current times

10. Asad Shafiq (Pak) – 5/10

Asad Shafiq has cemented his spot as one of the most underrated batsmen of this modern era. He has played 69 Tests, making 4323 runs at an average of 38.94 with 12 centuries and most of those scores have flown under the radar. He had made his Test debut against South Africa in 2010 at Abu Dhabi.

Since then, he along with Azhar Ali, Misbah-Ul-Haq and Younis Khan formed the crux of the Pakistani red-ball team. His best innings came against South Africa in 2013 when he scored 111 and helped Pakistan get to a respectable position from 33/4 against the likes of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, and Vernon Philander. Now with Misbah and Younis retired, he is the senior batsman with Azhar and the youngsters will look up to him for guidance and help while facing upcoming challenges.

Asad Shafiq doesn’t get the due unlike others for his contribution to Pakistani cricket, but without him, the team might not have gotten out of trouble when early wickets fell and he stemmed the crumbling batting lineup with his stoic defense and controlled aggression.

The right-hander is well versed in playing spin and fast bowling on all kinds of surfaces and has done extremely well in England, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. He was awarded a central contract for the upcoming season by the PCB.

9. Dimuth Karunaratne (SL) – 5.5/10

Sri Lankan captain in Tests and ODIs Dimuth Karunaratne came as a breath of fresh air for the Islanders when he made his Test debut in 2012, but it took him until 2017 to cement his place at the top of the batting lineup after amazing performances against India at home, despite the team getting whitewashed in every format.

Karunaratne captained his team to its maiden Test series win over South Africa in South Africa, making him the first Asian captain to achieve that feat and the leadership has only helped him elevate his batting to new heights. In 62 Tests, he has 4321 runs at an average of 36.93 and the best score of 196. He made 9 centuries and 23 half-centuries, most of which have come under pressure.

The left-hander has a tight technique that is capable of dealing with spin and fast bowlers equally but is a polar opposite to the likes of Sanath Jayasuriya and Tillakaratne Dilshan, who attacked the opposition bowlers from the start. He takes his time grinding the bowlers and making them bowling to his strengths and then feeding off them.

8. Quinton De Kock (SA) – 6/10

26-year-old Quinton de Kock is the beacon of the young talent that South Africa has produced and on whom their future is dependent. De Kock made his Test debut in 2014 against Australia and has become one of the most important members of the Proteas side.

In a short career so far, De Kock has 41 Tests with 2509 runs and the best score of 129* at an average of 39.31 and 5 centuries to his name. Though his limited-overs career and numbers are far more impressive, his transition in the five-day format has taken some time, given that he had to work hard on his batting technique which has been worked on by opposition bowlers.

He has had his issues with playing quality spin in the past but has seemingly worked on the issues and the ongoing Test series against India will test his patience and skills to the height. Meanwhile, he had been quietly moving up the ranks and with him being trusted with limited-overs captaincy recently, it remains to be seen if he can be consistent in making runs in the longer format, to payback that confidence.

7. Ross Taylor (NZ) – 6/10

Luteru Ross Poutoa Lote Taylor is one of the stalwarts of New Zealand cricket and has been part of the setup since his Test debut against South Africa in 2007. The 35-year-old has seen the ups and lows that come with the game and even battled a weird eyesight issue and a shattered wrist to make a victorious comeback to the game.

In his 12 years of international cricket, he has played 94 Tests making 6840 runs at an average of 45.91 with the best score of 290. He has 18 centuries and 31 half-centuries and had captained the team for a while before a tumultuous time ended his leadership reign.

Ross Taylor is a legside dominant player who has developed his offside play a lot with time, which has helped him get into the echelon of the best Test batsmen. In 2015, he played an innings of a lifetime, when he smashed his best Test score at the WACA stadium, which is the highest score by a Kiwi against the Kangaroos and established him as the best batsman produced by New Zealand, ever.

6. Tom Latham (NZ) – 6.5/10

27-year-old Tom Latham has done very well in order to help Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor fly the flag of New Zealand cricket high in Test cricket. He has played 45 Tests, scoring 3347 runs with the highest score of 264* and 10 centuries at an average of 44.03.

Latham has been the go-to man for Williamson in times of crisis. Ever since making his Test debut in 2014 against India, Latham has gone onto stake claim as one of the best batsmen in the format and his 8th ranking at the moment in Test matches proves that he is going in the right direction.

He is one of the best players of spin in the Kiwi team and displayed this in the recent tour to Sri Lanka with 154 in the Colombo Test win, which helped the Black Caps equal the series. Latham has the perfect technique which suits all kinds of playing surfaces and he has the guts to handle fastest of bowlers and skill to take care of rank turners. Truly one of the best young batsmen to look forward to.

5. Cheteshwar Pujara (Ind) – 7/10

Indian cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara has done such a good job at the no.3 spot in the batting lineup, that even Rahul Dravid praised his batting acumen. He is just a one format player and has embraced this really well, working on his concentration primarily. This paid rich dividends on the tours of England and Australia in 2018-19.

Pujara has played 70 Tests and has scored 5486 runs at an average of 49.87 with 18 centuries and the best score of 206*. Pujara is known for his ability to bat for a long time and with his staunch defense helping his bat against the best of the best bowlers and frustrating most of them. His game is tailor-made for this format and he excels in what he does.

One of his masterpieces came in Ranchi in 2017 when he batted 525 balls and 672 minutes or just over 11 hours to compile 202 runs in order to help India put on 603/9d. This helped his team nullify the advantage that Australia had when they scored 451 batting first. His epic performance was three centuries on a recent tour down under which helped India win a maiden Test series against Australia.

4. Ben Stokes (Eng) – 8/10

Ben Stokes might be a surprise pick in this list, but he has done miracles with his bat in the format for England, that not many are capable of doing. He has the ability to turn the games on its head just using his bat or his bowling skills; but most often than not, it’s his willow that has talked more often than not.

Stokes has 3593 runs in 57 Test matches at an average of 35.57 with 8 centuries and 17 fifties. His highest score is 258, which was a brutal inning against South Africa in Cape Town, as his double hundred came in 163 balls and he helped England make 629/6d from 223/5 at one point. is 250 came off just 196 balls, the fastest in the 140-year history of the format.

One of his best exhibitions of batting came in recent Ashes when he made 135* against Australia to help England draw equal in the five-match series. When no.11 batsman Jack Leach walked in, England needed 70 more runs and Stokes let himself loose and rest is history.

3. Virat Kohli (Ind) – 8.5/10

Virat Kohli has taken over from Sachin Tendulkar as perhaps the greatest modern batsman at no.4 spot in the batting lineup. Kohli has been rated as the greatest batsman across formats and is currently ranked no.2 in ICC batsmen rankings for Test matches. As a captain, like many of his generation, his batting has been touching new heights.

Kohli, who had made his Test debut in 2011 against West Indies, has 6749 runs in 79 Tests with 25 centuries to his name and at an average of 53.14. His highest score is 243 and he is the only batsman in international cricket to average 50 or more in all the three formats. He has been pegged to break records of Sachin Tendulkar with respect to runs and centuries.

Kohli has mastered the art of scoring big runs and in 2018, he conquered his final frontier of England by slamming multiple centuries in the five-match Test series. He scored runs in South Africa and Australia, Sri Lanka and India of all places in the last five years and this led to him being crowned the top-rated batsman in the format, a position he held for a long time.

2. Kane Williamson (NZ) – 9/10

Kane Williamson, the Kiwi captain is an artist with the bat in the hand. He made his Test debut in 2010 against India and since then has been the leading runs getter for the Black Caps in the format and has been consistent with his form over quite a long time.

Williamson has been named the greatest Kiwi batsman by many current and former New Zealand players and some have rated him even higher than late great Martin Crowe. With 6163 runs in 74 Tests at an average of 52.22, Kane Williamson stakes claim for that title quite nicely. He also has 20 centuries with the best of 242* and has been the cornerstone of the batting lineup along with Ross Taylor.

At just 29 years of age, Williamson has many more years left in him to possibly end up with over 10,000 runs to his name and even 40 or more hundreds. He is relatively injury-free and as a captain, his game has already reached a new level, giving a feeling of dread to the opposition.

1. Steve Smith (Aus) – 9.5/10

Steve Smith is well nicknamed as the modern-day Bradman given the bucket load of runs he has scored since his debut. He played his first Test in 2010 against Pakistan at Lord’s in 2010 as a leg-spinning all-rounder. That all-rounder has transformed himself into perhaps the greatest modern Test batsman of all-time.

At the current time, Smith has 6973 runs in 68 Tests at an average of 64.56 with 26 centuries and 27 half-centuries and a highest score of 239 to his name. Though the ball-tampering incident in Newlands in 2018 has put a terrible asterisk on his name, his legacy as a batsman, though tarnished by that, remains the finest of all times.

He has scored runs everywhere from England, to New Zealand, to India, wherein 2017, he showed serious batting skills to a top score on either side in matches that were played on vicious turners. At home, he amassed 769 runs in 8 innings with 4 hundreds and an average of 128.16. He leads the modern-day fab four in Tests by a large margin and is ranked no.1 in ICC batsmen’s rankings in Tests.