If leg-spin is to be termed an art, former Aussie leg-spinner Shane Warne is the Picasso of it. His shrewdness with the ball resulted in more than a thousand international scalps against his name. However, he owes his consistent media presence towards his controversial views on cricketing affairs. Not his spin.
This Saturday, another such view-sharing event took place as Shane Warne named his top five active test batters. This time though, there wasn’t much controversy involved. Except that Kohli’s position on the list was inferior to kiwi-batter Kane Williamson. Here’s the list.
1. Steve Smith
Here’s what the world’s greatest leg-spinner had to say while naming this Aussie batsman as the best at present: “I’ve got Steve Smith (at the first pick). In all conditions and against all bowling attacking across all times, Smith is outstanding.”
No one with a brain up in their head can ever argue against this. Smith’s overall numbers in test matches are unreal. Despite starting off as a spinner for his first 10-12 games, his career average reads 61.40 and as we write, Steve is ranked 2nd on ICC’s Test Batsmen Rankings.
2. Joe Root
In recent times, England’s test-skipper is having a gala time with the bat in hand. Since the start of 2021 alone, Root has racked up 1541 runs off 13 matches.
Netizens have always bashed him for not being good at converting his fifties into triple figures. Nonetheless, he’s proved them all wrong this year. Root crossed the fifty-run mark eight times this calendar year and on six such occasions, he converted them into hundreds. Joe Root’s dream run has fetched him 903 points and he is placed at the top of ICC Test Batsmen Ranking. In Warne’s list, he finds himself at one spot lower.
3. Kane Williamson
Right. Kohli isn’t the third best according to Shane Warne. Not at present. Rather, it’s NZ skipper Kane Williamson. Readers might believe that Kohli is 3rd best test-batter presently, but Shane has valid reasons for picking Williamson ahead of him.
Kane dominated in all home games in the last two years. Not long ago, he was the top-ranked test batter. Overall, he averages 53.47 from 86 matches. To sum it up in Warnie’s own words, “Kane is always in thereabouts.”
4. Virat Kohli
Everything was going so well for so long for King Kohli. However, time leaves no one. Having dominated the cricket world during the vast majority of the decade, Kohli suddenly finds himself in a rut.
His white-ball captaincy has been stripped off of him and his workload has forced him to quit RCB leadership. “Virat Kohli has just dropped off a little bit,” quotes the Aussie legend and rightly so. While Virat Kohli’s career stats are a thing of beauty, the same can’t be said about his present situation.
Kohli has just 4 fifty-plus scores to show from 17 innings since 2021’s start. The ordeal is evident when you add zero hundreds and a season average of twenty-eight to it. Regardless, Virat’s career average of 50.60 helps him land the fourth position on Warne’s list of best active batsmen.
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5. Marnus Labushagne
If you think spelling Loosebuschange is the most difficult thing in the world, you gotta talk to the bowlers who he has toyed around with. From nineteen tests thus far, Marnus averages 61.20 and already has 16 scores in excess of fifty.
Ever since coming on as the concussion substitute of Steve Devereux Smith, Labushagne has done very well. In his short career so far, kangaroo’s test number 3 has evolved into Smith’s copycat. He copies Smith’s antiques, batting style and most importantly… his appetite for big runs.
Presently, ICC Test Batsmen Ranking rates him higher than several giants of the game in Kohli, Rohit, Taylor and Warner. No brainer that Marnus rounds off Shane Warne’s high-class top-five.