Who's the best test batter? Shane Watson reveals in his fab-five list

Quite often, the cricket pundits have been asked to rank the top-five batters in Test Cricket. Previously, four players such as Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson, Joe Root, and Steve Smith had been included in the big-four category in Test Cricket. However, the rise of Babar Azam in the longest format in recent years has made it a ‘big-five’ instead of a ‘big four’.

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Recently, in the latest episode of ‘The ICC Review’, Shane Watson has ranked the top five batsmen in order in Test Cricket. Interestingly, the former Australian cricketer has put Virat Kohli at the top of the list, despite the fact that the former Indian skipper hasn’t scored a century for the last two years.

"In Test match cricket, I am always going to say, Virat Kohli," Watson said, when asked by Isa Guha who he thought is the best Test batter in the world.

"It's nearly superhuman, what he is able to do because he has such high intensity every time he goes out to play."

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Notably, Watson has put Babar Azam at number two while lauding how he has adapted his game to succeed in the longest format. The Pakistan skipper is currently ranked fifth in the ICC latest Men’s Test batter rankings.

"Babar Azam is playing incredibly well," Watson noted.

" to be able to see how he has adapted his game to really move his game to Test cricket as well.

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"Babar Azam would probably be No.2 at the moment."

Babar Azam is followed by Steve Smith and Kane Williamson at third and fourth position respectively. Watson stated that Smith’s performance in Test Cricket have seen a dip in recent times. "Steve Smith has just started to come off a little bit," Watson added.

"It looks like Smith has really started to play for time a little bit more and is not putting as much pressure on the bowlers as he did when was at his absolute best. For me, Steve has dropped down that list a little bit."

In the ICC Men’s Test batters’ list, Smith currently ranks second.

"Kane Williamson has had a few elbow issues," Watson noted of the Kiwi's recent injury woes.

"Kane knows his game inside out and knows how to put pressure on bowlers in any conditions."

Watson concluded by putting Joe Root in the fifth position in his list. Notably, Root scored the most runs in Tests in 2021, however, Watson reckons that the English cricketer hasn’t had as much of an impact as he had in the past.

"Joe Root recently scored a hundred but he has had a bit of time along the lines of Steve Smith where he hasn't been able to nail the big scores like he has done in the past," Watson said.

"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."