Rating top 10 current batsmen in all formats irrespective of ICC rankings

Currently, there is a lot of tussle going on to become the top batsmen in the Tests with Steve Smith making a roaring comeback to the format. Virat Kohli has ruled the charts over the last 16 months or so while Kane Williamson and Cheteshwar Pujara were the other two players in the top three. But Smith has leapfrogged both of them easily and is now standing only six points adrift of Kohli who is at the top.

However, when all the formats are taken into consideration for rankings, a lot of things change. Not many batsmen are able to be consistent across the formats. Some have been exceptional in only one of the formats and given the demands of modern cricket, it takes a lot out of a batsman to play all three formats leave alone being consistent.

ICC has introduced ranking systems separately for each facet of the game across all the three formats. However, which batsmen will come in top 10 if a common ranking is to be given across all the formats.

Here we bring you top 10 batsmen across all formats irrespective of ICC rankings:

10. David Warner

David Warner has been around for more than a decade now. The left-handed opener has been one of the most successful all-format players for Australia in this decade. Warner made his T20I and ODI debut in January 2009 but it took him almost three years to get his maiden Test cap.

However, since then, he hasn’t looked back. Warner is a mainstay for Australia across all formats and is a critical member at the top of the order. The New South Wales batsman has amassed over 13,000 runs in international cricket. He averages in excess of 45 in both ODIs and Tests. He is the often the enforcer at the top for the Aussies.

The southpaw was banned for 12 months in the wake of the ball-tampering fiasco in March 2018. However, he has made a successful return to international cricket. He was the second-highest run-getter in World Cup this year. He showed excellent consistency even in the IPL as he finished as the leading run-getter and won the Orange Cap. The 32-year-old opener may be struggling for form in the longest format but it won’t be long before he gets runs.

Hence, in the last few years, Warner has been the backbone of the Australian side in all three formats. They struggled quite a bit in his absence which shows Warner’s importance.

9. Babar Azam

At the moment, Babar Azam seems to be in the form of his life. He is perhaps Pakistan’s best batsman in all three formats. Currently, Pakistan’s No. 3 has been smashing bowlers to all corners in the T20 Blast in England. He is currently the leading run-getter of the tournament.

T20 has been Azam’s strongest format. In T20Is, he averages 54.21 which is the best for any player who has played a minimum of 20 innings. In fact, in all T20s, he is fifth on the list of players with the best average. He averages 53.55 even in ODI cricket. He has 10 hundreds and 15 half-centuries to his name. No Pakistan batsman has been as consistent as Azam in white-ball cricket. He is No. 3 and No. 1 in the ICC ODI and T20I rankings.

While the 24-year-old is already a star in the limited-overs format, he is yet to attain consistency in the longest format. Azam started off slowly but seems to be picking pace. He had a very good year in Test cricket last year. Moreover, he was Pakistan’s best batsman in the Test series in South Africa where he dealt with pace and bounce really well. Thus, Azam is certainly among the 10 best batsmen going around world cricket at the moment.

8. Joe Root

Joe Root maybe just 28 years old but he is one of the most experienced England players at the moment. He is a part of the Fab 4 which also consists of Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and Kane Williamson. He was considered one of the best batsmen in world cricket but has slid down the pecking order.

The England Test captain’s form has been iffy in the longest format. He has struggled quite a bit this year. He averages just 27.57 in Test cricket in 2019. The year 2018 wasn’t a great one either. Thus, his Test averages has slipped under 50 at the moment. However, he has been pretty consistent in ODI cricket. He is England’s rock at No. 3 and has averaged at least 50 in each of the last four calendar years.

T20 seems to be his weakest format. Though he averages 35.72 in T20Is, Root has been pretty inconsistent in the shortest format. In fact, he was even dropped for a game against India last year. Thus, Root is at No. 8 given his indifferent nature in T20 cricket and also his inability to convert starts in Tests. He has a total of 113 fifty-plus scores in international cricket but he has scored just 32 hundreds.

7. Quinton de Kock

Quinton de Kock first caught everyone’s attention when he scored three back to back hundreds against India in an ODI series in late 2013. However, since then, he’s hardly put a foot wrong. He’s become South Africa’s premier wicketkeeper in all three formats and has adapted to each format really well.

Over the last couple of years, De Kock has become South Africa’s reliable option. He at the top of the order in white-ball cricket or lower down at No. 6 or 7 in Test cricket, De Kock has performed consistently. He is South Africa’s best ODI batsman at the moment. He averages 48.38 this year and has taken a lot of responsibility.

Meanwhile, his exploits in Test cricket this year have been excellent too. He has scored 428 runs at an average of 61.14. Moreover, his strike-rate this year is almost 85 in the longest format. Thus, he’s had a great impact. Also, he had an excellent run in the IPL where he scored heavily in Mumbai Indians’ title-winning season.

6. Ross Taylor

Ross Taylor is one of those players who quietly goes about his job and hardly gets noticed. In the last few years, Taylor has scored heavily across all formats. He has always been in the top five or top ten as far as the batting charts are concerned. The former New Zealand captain has had a phenomenal run in ODI cricket since the start of 2017. He has accumulated more than 2500 runs in the 50-over format which includes five hundreds and 18 half-centuries.

Taylor has averaged in excess of 55 in every calendar year in the last three years. In Test cricket, barring 2018 which seemed like an aberration, Taylor has been churning out runs consistently. In three out of the last four calendar years (2016-2019), the 35-year-old averaged in excess of 60. He is New Zealand’s Mr Reliable at No. 4.

In the shortest format, he has blown hot and cold in the past but seems to have some bit of consistency. Taylor is often pushed up and down the order which hasn’t allowed him to settle in T20Is. Thus, despite that, Taylor is no doubt one of the top batsmen in world cricket at the moment.

5. Faf du Plessis

Faf du Plessis has been one of South Africa’s most consistent batsmen in the last few years. Be it white-ball or red-ball the South African skipper has stood up and delivered. He has been their crisis man and has often been the lone warrior for his side.

He has been in fabulous form this year. He turned around his poor run of form in Test cricket really well and has scored 306 runs in just three Tests this year. Meanwhile, he’s been excellent in limited-overs cricket for the last few years. Since 2014, only once did he average less than 50 in ODI cricket in a calendar year and that was in 2016 (even that year he had an average of 48.17). Thus, he is one of the most underrated white-ball batsmen going around.

Moreover, he has a good T20 record as well. He averages almost 36 and strikes at 135.49 in T20Is. He was a vital cog for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the last couple of seasons where he scored consistently. Also, du Plessis can move around the batting order flexibly and still be effective. Thus, he might be a tad underrated but he is surely among the best batsmen across formats.

4. Steve Smith

Steve Smith started out as a leg-spinner but over the years, he’s evolved himself into one of the best batsmen in the world. In fact, he may be the best Test batsman in the world at the moment. Smith averages a staggering 63.24 in Test cricket which is the second most after the great Sir Don Bradman.

The former Aussie skipper has scored 25 hundreds and as many fifties in the longest format. He was banned for 12 months and missed a lot of cricket. However, it doesn’t seem like he’s missed a beat. In white-ball cricket, Smith hasn’t had the same impact. But he’s been Australia’s crisis man as he showed in the World Cup this year. The 30-year-old has a fabulous record in the World Cup knockouts as well.

In T20s, Smith falls behind a little. In international cricket, he’s played just 30 games in the shortest format. He has scored just 431 runs at an average of 21.55. Hence, Smith’s T20 record goes against him and hence, he is placed fourth in the list of best batsmen across formats.

3. Ben Stokes

Ben Stokes seems to be in the form of his life. The England all-rounder has been scoring runs in all formats, in all conditions and in every situation. Every time England need someone to stand up, Stokes invariably puts his hand up. In fact, Stokes has owned this 2019 summer.

In the World Cup, he was England’s best batsman. There were times when he fought a lone battle. In the final, he was the one who carried England almost throughout the innings. The Durham lad has continued his purple patch in the Ashes as well. He scored a fine hundred at Lord’s before he played an innings of a lifetime to win England the Test match at Leeds.

Add his to the whole-hearted spells he sends down. Stokes hasn’t played a lot of T20 cricket in the recent past. He played a few IPL games and blew hot and cold. Meanwhile, he has played just five T20Is since the start of 2017. The way Stokes is batting, he is certainly in a different zone and it seems like he can do no wrong at the moment.

2. Kane Williamson

Kane Williamson might be the most classical and yet solid and versatile batsman at the moment. The New Zealand skipper has all the ingredients to succeed in any part of the world. He has the ability to counter swing and seam, pace and bounce and also, can play spin equally well. He is definitely a batsman for all conditions. He has been at the top of his game for a while now. Williamson has been peerless in Test cricket.

He has constantly churned out runs for New Zealand and is the rock at No. 3. Year after year, series after series, Williamson seems to get better. Meanwhile, in ODI cricket, the 29-year-old has been pretty consistent. He may not have outstanding numbers but he’s consistently scored runs. In fact, he was the player of the series in the World Cup and ended as the third-highest run-getter in the tournament.

Moreover, he can mould his game to excel in the shortest format as well. Williamson has good numbers in T20 cricket and he showed it in the IPL last year what he can do. Thus, he may not come in the radar a lot but he gets the job done. Williamson is effective in all three formats and adjusts accordingly. Hence, he is at No. 2 in this list.

1. Virat Kohli

The batsman at the top of the ICC rankings in Tests and ODIs is also at the top position in this list. Virat Kohli is arguably the best batsman across formats at the moment. At one point, he was the only batsman in the history of the game to average in excess of 50 in all three formats.

In Test cricket, Kohli has taken his game to another level. Year after year, he’s churned out runs like never before. In the last three calendar years (2016, 2017, 2018), the Indian skipper has aggregated over 1000 runs every time. He has made hundreds in all conditions. Last year, he got hundreds in South Africa, England and Australia, in some of the most difficult conditions for batting.

Meanwhile, Kohli is an absolute freak in white-ball cricket. He averages 60.31 in ODI cricket. He has scored 11,520 runs in the 50-over format and is just seven centuries short of breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record of most ODI tons. The Delhi batsman has scored consistently in the shortest format as well. He’s scored 21 half-centuries in T20Is which is the most by any batsman. He is second on the list of most runs in T20Is. Moreover, he is a proven performer in the IPL as well.

However, the only glitch in this glorious career is his World Cup semi-final record. But the Indian superstar has scored in other knockout encounters and has stood up when the team needed him. Thus, Kohli is the best batsman who can adapt to any format and score runs in any conditions.