Steve Smith, Kane Williamson, Joe Root and Virat Kohli represent the modern-day superstars and are all currently vying for that number-one status of ‘world best batsmen’.
What helps add to the competition is that all four of these Superstars are currently middle-order batsmen and happen to be captain of their respective Test sides. You have to go back to the 80s in the era of the all-rounder to find such elite competition all at one position.
In the 80s greats such as Richard Hadlee, Ian Botham, Imran Khan and Kapil Dev all fought year in, year out for the title of the worlds best all-rounder and all have gone down in history as all-time greats.
Richard Hadlee of New Zealand – 3124 runs and 431 wickets – is considered one of the greatest bowlers of all time who could also be relied upon for consistent lower-order runs.
Ian Botham of England – 5200 runs and 383 wickets – was one of the most devastating one-two punches in cricket history, often bludgeoning attacks for brutal quick fire runs, then knocking teams over with intelligent line and length bowling.
Imran Khan of Pakistan – 3807 runs and 362 wickets – is Pakistan’s undoubted all-time best player and began the era of the Pakistan quick swing bowlers. It helped that he could also bat particularly well in any position.
Kapil Dev of India – 5248 runs and 434 wickets – held the world record for a time with the most wickets in Test match history, which is not bad for a guy who also smacked eight Test centuries.
Compare that to the modern day superstars: Smith (5251 runs at 61), Root (4594 runs at 53), Williamson (5116 runs at 51) and Kohli (4497 runs at 49). Obviously they are completely different players to the four mentioned above, but they are similar in the sense that they are widely considered the four best cricketers in the world at this moment.
These four push each other and all seem to lift their games when facing one another, just like in the 1980s when Hadlee would lift against Botham’s Poms and Dev would make it his mission to devastate the Pakistani top order just to get one over Khan.
Rivalry drives players to push harder, and the modern day superstars are no different. Smith, Root, Williamson and Kohl are undoubtedly the best players on their respective teams and are all currently sitting inside the top five of ICC rankings for world’s best batsmen.
If they continue pushing each other at this rate, they will all go down as the four greatest batsmen of a generation in a way not seen since the all-rounders of the 80s.
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