Shane Watson keeps Virat Kohli on top in his ‘Fab 5’ list
Virat Kohli has been through a lean patch in the last couple of years as he is unable to convert his good starts into big scores. In fact, he has not scored a century in either of the formats after November 2019, with his last one coming in the pink-ball Test against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
The batting megastar might not be in great touch with the bat for a long time, but he has certainly featured in the topmost category of Australian icon Shane Watson’s ‘Fab 5’, which includes the likes of New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson, England Test captain Joe Root, Australian batting mainstay Steve Smith and Pakistan’s batting superstar Babar Azam.
In Test match cricket, I am always going to say Virat Kohli: Shane Watson
“In Test match cricket, I am always going to say, Virat Kohli. It’s nearly superhuman, what he is able to do because he has such high intensity every time he goes out to play”, said Shane Watson while speaking on the ICC Review Show.
“Babar Azam is playing incredibly well. It’s great to be able to see how he has adapted his game to really move his game to Test cricket as well. Babar Azam would probably be No.2 at the moment,” he added.
Meanwhile, the veteran all-rounder ranked Smith, Williamson, and Root at the third, fourth and fifth positions respectively. At the same time, he also highlighted what makes all these five unique.
“It’s incredible how these world-class batters just go through waves where instead of scoring those big hundreds, get the 70s-80s, but still have an impact on the game but are not able to really maintain that really high standard of getting those big runs as they have done in the past”, Shane Watson said.
Kohli’s wait for his 71st international century continues, but he recently surpassed 8,000 runs in the longest format of the game. Meanwhile, he had shockingly relinquished Test captaincy after a series loss to South Africa in January. With the captaincy pressure behind him, the 33-year-old would now be hoping to play with complete freedom when he dons the India jersey in the future.
