Follow UsJoe Root has had a world of his own in the Fab-four universe. Since the existence of the common adage that now represents him, Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, and Kane Williamson, never once has his trajectory mapped out with the other four.
It was the year 2014 in which all these four batters started to score consistently and a notion of the Fab-four began to surface. At the end of 2014, Root had an average of 97.1 in 11 innings, Smith averaged 81.9 in 17 innings, Williamson averaged 61.9 in 17 innings and Kohli had averaged 44.6 in 20 innings in that calendar year.
Post-2014, in none of the other eight years, Root averaged less than 35. Apart from the ongoing year 2022, the same goes for Williamson. In fact, in none of the years, Williamson’s average dropped below 45.
As for the other two batters, they had one or the other year where their average dropped to less than 35. Smith in 2018 and 2020 averaged 32.1 and 18.3. As for Kohli, the year 2020 (19.3) and 2021 (28.2) saw an average drop.
The pinnacle years
As said earlier, post-2014, each of these four has had a tremendous run. But, Smith, in particular, had a prolonged peak season. From the start of the year 2014 till 2017, Smith smashed 1000+ runs in all the four years of cricket he played (2014-17). In the history of Test cricket, only Matthew Hayden had hit 1000+ runs in more consecutive years (2001-05).
In each of the years between 2014-17, Smith had averaged 70+ and had scored four or more centuries. To add more about his peak, he is the only player to score 1000+ runs at an average of 70+ every year for four consecutive years. Phew! Talk about being at the summit of form.
When Smith was at the pinnacle, Kohli, Root, and Williamson weren't far behind. But, it’s just that, Smith was way ahead of everyone, maybe not in terms of runs but, his average. In the span between 2014-18, Root (5553) had scored the most runs, the virtue of more innings (112). He had an average of 53.9 in this span of five years. Smith was behind him with 5229 at a staggering average of 71.6.
For Kohli, the years 2016, 17 & 18 were his peak. However, Kohli was different from Smith. From his debut till 2015, Kohli had hit 11 centuries, and only in one inning, he went on to score a 150+. However, in the years between 2016-18, Kohli had hit 14 centuries, out of which, eight of them were above 150. To add more, he had six double centuries in these three years. This means, that when Kohli got to a century, he made sure they were daddy 100s. In the three years, Kohli scored 1000+ runs in each of the years and became the first and the only Indian to hit 1000+ runs in three consecutive years.
Due to the scarcity of Tests played by New Zealand, Williamson might not have the runs to back him, but averaging above 45 in each of the years from 2014-to 21 is a testimony of his consistency. Williamson’s best year came in 2015 when he scored over 1000 runs at an average of 90.2.
As for Root, his first 1000-run year was in 2015. He then followed it up with another 1000-run year in 2016. But, it was the year 2021, in which, runs were garlanded for the English batter. Before the start of 2021, Root had hit only 17 centuries. Whereas, Kohli (27) had the most, Smith (26) behind him and Williamson (23) above Root.
In any case, from 2021 to date, Root has scored over 2000 runs with nine centuries. On the other hand, Kohli hasn’t had a century and Williamson and Smith have scored a century apiece. More and more to his glory, Root has outscored the three batters in the last two years (from 2021). Root has scored 2192 runs with nine centuries and the rest of the three combined have scored 1910 runs with two centuries. Clear to say, Root is miles ahead among the Fab Four batters in recent times.
Can Root sustain to emulate Sachin?
Every budding batsmen’s dream is to emulate the great man, Sachin’s record. But, the biggest question is how long can the batter sustain the form? When Sir Alastair Cook registered 10k runs at the age of 31 years and 157 days, the talk of the town was about him beating Sachin’s record. However, Cook could sustain for only two years after reaching 10k runs, before he retired from Test cricket in 2018. Now, the focus shifts towards Root, who achieved the feat at the same age as Cook.
Root is currently 5907 runs behind Sachin’s tally of 15921. On average, barring his two innings in 2012, Root has played close to 22 (21.6) innings every year since 2013. If Root continues to score 50 runs per innings consistently, Root has the chance of scoring approximately 1080 runs per year. By this calculation, in five years and five months, he has the chance to emulate Sachin’s record. In terms of innings, he would need 118.1 innings to achieve the feat. Again, it is completely dependent on how long he can sustain the same form.