Top 5 current batsmen with highest batting average in international cricket

Cricket has come a long way since its inception in 1877. It started of as a game played over several days just between two teams, Australia and England. The undisputed king of those times was Don Bradman, who is regarded as the greatest cricketer ever and who finished his career with a mind-numbing average of 99.94 in 80 innings. Today the game is played by several nations. The rules and technicalities of the game have changed as well. Cricket has always been an equal battle between bat and ball, but over the last couple of decades, greater field restrictions, shorter boundaries, flatter pitches etc have tilted the balance in favor of batting. While cricket surely has become more of a batsman’s game in today’s times, we now have three formats of the game- the traditional Test cricket, One Day Internationals and T20 Internationals. The presence of three completely different formats with different requirements has made it difficult for batsmen across the world to adapt and score runs consistently. Batsmen have faltered trying to alter their techniques and skillsets for a different format and lost their touch even in the format they played well in. Despite the challenges, there are a few batsmen around the globe who have managed to dominate and stay at the top of their game. They have been able to maintain a high average across formats playing percentage cricket. Let’s have a look at 5 current batsmen with the highest average in international cricket(min 100 innings). 5. Cheteshwar Pujara – 47.12 Cheteshwar Pujara. (Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images) Cheteshwar Pujara is surely a surprise entry in this list. Pujara hasn’t played a single T20I and has played a handful of ODI games at a measly average of 10.2. However, Pujara has been one of the most consistent players of this generation in the Test arena with an average of 48.7. The promising long format batsman has played several crucial innings at number 3 and is one of the few old school players who still believes in tiring out bowlers with his defence before going for his shots. Even many world-class bowlers found it tough to bowl at him in the longest format of the game. He stands at No.5 in this list with a total average of 47.12 in 133 innings. 4. Joe Root – 48.36 Joe Root. (Photo by Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images) Joe Root, the current England Test Captain and one of their best all-format players has been very consistent since his debut in 2012. While he may not be the biggest hitters of the ball, he has the ability to constantly rotate the strike and find the boundary regularly. The Test skipper might not be consistent with his willow in recent times but he can be dangerous for any opposition line-up. His 50s to 100s conversion ratio has been poor among the fab four. While his Test form has dipped in the last couple of years since he assumed the captaincy, his average is still an impressive 48.4 in Tests, an excellent 51 in ODIs, and 35.7 in T20Is which takes his overall average to 48.36 in 336 innings. 3. Babar Azam – 50.6 Babar Azam. (Photo Source: Twitter) The next big thing in World Cricket, Pakistan’s Babar Azam has been in prolific form in all formats since his debut in 2015. He averages 50.6 in all formats in 158 innings. While he is still finding his feet in Test cricket and averages 45.1, he has been a revelation in limited-overs cricket. He is only one amongst two batsmen with an average in excess of 50 in ODIs (54.2) and T20Is (50.7). He is also the Number 1 T20I batsman. He has dominated bowlers across formats and the way he is going, he is sure to better these outstanding numbers. He also secured limited-overs captaincy now and we can expect him to do better with the willow. 2. Steve Smith – 51.14 Steve Smith. (Photo by Mike Owen/Getty Images) The greatest Test batsman of this generation, Number 1 Test batsman Steve Smith averages a staggering 62.8 in Tests and has an overall average of 51.14 in 272 innings. Smith started his career as a leg-spinner who could bat a bit but transformed himself into one of the greatest Test batsmen ever. His unorthodox batting style, though unusual, has worked wonders for him. Despite starting off as a bowler, he has a decent average of 42.5 in ODIs and 29.6 inT20Is and with plenty of years still left in his career, we can expect his overall numbers to reach a greater high. 1. Virat Kohli – 56.15 Virat Kohli. (Photo Source: Twitter) The modern-day legend, Virat Kohli is head and shoulders above everyone else and is easily the best all-format player of this generation having an astonishing average of 56.15 in 460 innings, almost 5 more than the second-best. He is a master at rotating strike and in recent years has also built a strong power-hitting game. He is the only batsman to average above 50 in all formats- 53.6 in Tests, a staggering 59.3 in ODIs, and 50.8 in T20Is. He is already regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and with age, on his side, he is sure to break even more records. Some of the experts even rate him as the next Sachin Tendulkar of the game.

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Top 5 current batsmen with highest batting average in international cricket

We've considered a minimum of 100 innings for the list.

4. Joe Root – 48.36

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