Joe Root has left struggling ‘big five’ rivals Kohli, Smith, Babar and Williamson in the dust

Joe Root will play his 150th Test in Christchurch later this month and will come face to face with his ‘fab four’ rival and Kiwi cutout of himself, Kane Williamson.

Root has made no secret of his admiration for Williamson, integrating some of his methods into his own batting over the years. The respect flows both ways after the two craftsmen spent time together at Yorkshire.

“Joe Root, he has just been something else for a period of time,” said Williamson before New Zealand’s stunning 3-0 Test win in India. “There is a lot of attention about what he might be able to achieve in a number of years and it is incredible that conversation can be had.”

Root, Williamson, Steve Smith and Virat Kohli are the original fab four – a group expanded to the big five by the addition of the younger Babar Azam when he broke through.

From 2014 to 2019 Smith was the undisputed king, with a batting average above 70, Williamson next on 61, Kohli 58 and Root 50.

Root’s remarkable rise

Since the start of 2020 there has been a reordering of the guard. Root averages 55 from 60 Tests, Smith a more human 45, Kohli just 31 while Williamson has improved on his average to 64 but he has played 36 fewer Tests than Root.

At the start of 2020, Root had 10 fewer Test hundreds than Kohli and was nine behind Smith. Now Root has 35, Smith 32 and Kohli 29.

And drill down to more recent form, for the last two years, and Root stands ahead of the rest. Since the start of 2022 he has made 12 hundreds and scored more than 3,200 runs.

Williamson has a higher average, but injury restricted him to 16 Tests in that time and just four away from home since February of last year.

Smith’s conversion to opener failed – he averaged 28 from four Tests – but his move back to No 4 against India over the next two months will give a better view of where he stands at the age of 35.

Babar was dropped against England, and has failed to score a Test hundred for nearly two years. Kohli has made two centuries since the start of 2022, averaged 15 against New Zealand and 37 in the current Test Championship cycle.

Williamson was injured for the entire India series with a groin problem, the latest in a line of fitness issues that have crept up on him in recent years. He was not risked in the third Test to concentrate on being fit for the England series.

The New Zealander has missed 12 Tests since the start of 2020. A serious knee injury sustained at the Indian Premier League put him out for six months, a chronic elbow tendon injury dogged him for two years, and over the last nine months he has batted just nine times.

Root’s relentless run production

Meanwhile, Root goes on and on. He is the only batsman this year to cross 1,000 runs in Test cricket, his 12 Test hundreds since the start of 2022 is four more than his nearest rival, and unlike Williamson, his body is holding up. He has missed one Test match, which was for paternity leave, since the end of the 2013-14 Ashes tour.

A fraught five years as captain did nothing to dent his batting, his finest year was 2021 when England were falling apart. The Bazball changes reignited his love for the game, and there has been a surge since the Rajkot Test reverse scoop, with his tempo returning to normal levels without affecting his consistency.

Why Root has outperformed the others can in part be explained by his focus on one format: Test cricket. For Kohli to play at his level of intensity was always going to bring on burnout, especially across three formats in the most scrutinised team in world sport.

India’s series in Australia is now looking like a clash of empires with one of them potentially ending if it is a one-sided contest. A poor tour, and India will need to begin the rebuild.

Williamson is a machine at home, averaging 66.85 on his own pitches, and Root has a fine record in New Zealand. Of the countries where he has played more than 10 innings, New Zealand is his best venue with an average of 52.53 in nine Tests.

If Williamson is fully fit, their individual performances will go a long way to settling the series. New Zealand have learnt how to win without Williamson while in India, and that will give them huge confidence, whereas England struggle when Root does not score the bulk of their runs.

In the 20 Test wins across the Bazball era, Root has averaged 66 with seven centuries. He averages 45 in England defeats under captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum. Root’s bat is the best thermometer for the team’s state of mind and form.