CWC 2019: Ranking the 'Fab 4' based on their performance in World Cup matches

The biggest cricketing event of the year, World Cup 2019 is just a few days away as it is set to commence on 30th May 2019. Hosts England will be up against the Proteas in the very first encounter of the tournament. The cricket fans all over the globe are super excited for the mega event as they have waited for four years for the tournament.

Fab 4 is quite a familiar term to the cricket fans. It is an elite club of four batsmen in modern day cricket which consists of Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Steve Smith and Kane Williamson. These four are considered to be the four best batsmen in world cricket across all the three formats. In the last couple of years, these batsmen have emerged as match-winners for their nations.

In the upcoming edition of the Cricket World Cup, these four will be very crucial for their nations. They will enter the tournament with very high expectations from the fans. It will be fascinating to how these four will fare at the World Cup. Except Root and Smith, Kohli and Williamson will also be the captain of their respective teams.

But before the tournament kicks off, here we will rank these four on the basis of their performance in the previous editions of the tournament.

Note: Ranking is based on the batting average of the players.

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#4 Kane Williamson

Kane Williamson

Kane Williamson is currently one of the best batsmen in world cricket across the three formats. He has been a consistent performer for his country right since his arrival in the world cricket. The Kiwi batsman has played two editions of the ODI World Cup for New Zealand till date.

He has appeared in a total of 13 World Cup matches till date and has scored 333 runs at an average 37.00 with the help just one half-century. These are decent numbers but don't do justice to Kane's potential as he is a much better player than this. His average in the tournament is the least amongst the fab 4 and hence he is ranked fourth in the list.

Williamson will surely want to better his records and help his team to perform well in the upcoming edition of the World Cup.

#3 Joe Root

Joe Root

The next name in the list is Joe Root. In the last few years, Root has become an established batsman for England across formats as he has been performing consistently for his country.

As far as his World Cup career is concerned, the 28-year-old has featured in just one ODI World Cup for England in 2015. He played just 6 matches in the tournament as England got out of the World Cup 2015 after the group stages.

In the 6 matches, he got to bat in 5 innings and scored 202 runs from them at an average 40.40 and with the help of one century. His best World Cup performance of 121 came against Sri Lanka at Wellington.

Root will be a vital cog for England in the upcoming World Cup. It will be interesting to see if he can help England winning their maiden World Cup this time around.

#2 Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli

Arguably one of the best batsmen in world cricket at the moment, Virat Kohli is ranked at number two in the list. Kohli has been a part two ODI World Cups till date. He has a dream start of his World Cup career as he scored a ton in his debut World Cup match against Bangladesh in 2011.

Overall, The 30-year-old has played 17 matches in the tournament and has scored 587 runs at an average of 41.93 with 107 being his best score. Meanwhile, he has scored one fifty and two hundreds. These stats are underwhelming for a batsman like Kohli who averages 59.58 in ODIs.

Although Kohli is ranked second here, he emerges as the best batsman among all when it comes to overall ODI stats.

The Indian skipper will be one of the main batsmen for the Indian team at the World Cup 2019. It will be interesting to see how he performs in his third tournament.

#1 Steve Smith

Steve Smith

The last name in the list is Steve Smith. Smith was a consistent performer for Australia across formats till 2018 when he got banned from international cricket.

Smith has featured in two ODI World Cups for Australia. He has played a total 14 matches in the tournament. He got to bat in 10 innings and scored 455 runs from them at an excellent average of 56.55 with 105 being his highest score. Meanwhile, he has scored 4 fifties and one hundred.

The 29-year-old played a crucial role in Australia winning the World Cup 2015. His average in World Cup matches is best amongst the Fab 4, hence he is ranked first in the list.

Smith will be making his comeback in international cricket for Australia at the World Cup 2019 after the ball-tampering saga last year. Although he has not played any international cricket in the last one year but will be a key player for Australia in the tournament.