Will pick Rohit Sharma and Babar Azam over Steve Smith and Root, reveals Aakash Chopra

Will pick Rohit Sharma and Babar Azam over Steve Smith and Root, reveals Aakash Chopra

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Former India opener Aakash Chopra has come up with his very own 'fab four' where he's picked Rohit Sharma and Babar Azam over incumbents Joe Root and Steve Smith. Chopra also stated that the ‘Fab Four’ will always begin with Virat Kohli, who he believes is the best batsman across all formats.

Pakistan cricket’s golden boy, Babar Azam has evolved immensely in the last year or so, solidifying his position as one of the best batsmen in the modern era. He is the only player to feature in the top five of the latest ICC batting ranking across formats and currently holds number one position in the ICC T20 rankings. All these characteristics provoked former India opener turned commentator Aakash Chopra to remove Steve Smith and Joe Root from his Fab Four list and replace them with Rohit Sharma and Babar Azam.

“I would keep Pakistan’s Babar Azam in the fab four. He stands shoulder to shoulder with India’s Virat Kohli. He is the number one batsman in T20Is, number-three in ODIs and number five in Test cricket. If you are in the top five in all three formats then how can you not be in the fab four of world cricket? He should be included in the fab four a 120 per cent,” Chopra was quoted as saying by cricketpakistan.com.pk.

While there is no set criteria to decide one’s ‘Fab Four’, it is mostly dependent on the perception of each and every individual. For a long time, a large majority of cricket fan have considered Kohli, Williamson, Steve Smith and England Test captain Joe Root as their Top Four batsmen of the contemporary generation, but Chopra feels that a new fab four must be made, meriting performances across formats. Chopra chose India’s Kohli and New Zealand’s Williamson for their stupendous consistency in Tests, ODIs, and T20Is.

“You would have to start the new fab four with India’s Virat Kohli because he is the number one batsman in two formats. He is in the top ten in T20I cricket as well but is in the bottom half. Have to keep New Zealand’s Kane Williamson in the fab four because of his consistency. He does great in ODIs and is formidable in Tests,” he added.

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