Who are cricket's Fab Four? Explained simply

Quick answer: who are cricket's Fab Four?

The Fab Four are Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, Joe Root and Kane Williamson. Four batters who came up around the same time and went on to define Test cricket for over a decade.

Between them, they've scored well over 40,000 Test runs and more than 140 centuries. No other group of contemporaries in the modern game comes close.

Player	Country	Test Debut	Tests*	Runs*	Average*	Test 100s*	Highest Score	Captain
Steve Smith	Australia	2010	123	10,763	56.7	37	239	✅
Virat Kohli	India	2011	123	9,230	46.85	30	254*	✅
Joe Root	England	2012	166	~14,100	~51.0	41	262	✅
Kane Williamson	New Zealand	2010	108	9,461	~55.0	33	251	✅

 

The four players who define modern Test cricket

Smith bats for Australia. Kohli batted for India until his Test retirement in 2025. Root bats for England. Williamson bats for New Zealand.

Each captained his country. Each was, at some point, ranked the world's best Test batter. And each built a technique so distinct you could pick him out from a silhouette.

 

Why are they called the "Fab Four"?

Former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe coined the term in 2013. He watched Smith, Kohli, Root and Williamson emerging together and predicted they'd carry Test cricket through the next decade.

He was right. A decade on, cricket fans still argue about which of the four sits on top. That argument is the whole point of this piece.

 

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Who are the Fab Four in cricket?

Steve Smith (Australia)

Smith debuted in 2010 as a legspinner who batted at number 8. Nobody saw the rest coming.

By 2015 he was Australia's captain and the world's number one Test batter. His stance looks like nothing in a coaching manual, all shuffle and fidget, but the results speak for themselves: 123 Tests, 10,763 runs, an average above 56.

He was banned for 12 months after the 2018 Cape Town ball-tampering scandal. He came back and scored 774 runs in the following Ashes series. Few comebacks in cricket history match it.

Virat Kohli (India)

Kohli made India fall back in love with Test cricket. He debuted in 2011, struggled early in Australia, then turned into the most intense competitor of his generation.

Between 2016 and 2018 he scored 3,596 runs in 35 Tests at an average past 66. He led India to a first-ever Test series win in Australia and to the top of the world Test rankings.

He retired from Test cricket in 2025, finishing with 123 matches, 9,230 runs, an average of 46.85, and 30 centuries including 7 double hundreds. His last few years dragged that average down from a peak above 55. It doesn't change what the peak looked like.

Joe Root (England)

Root debuted in 2012 with a patient 73 at Nagpur against India's spin trio. Patience turned out to be the whole story.

He went through a rough patch between 2017 and 2020, his average sinking into the high 30s. Since 2021 he's been the best version of himself: six centuries in a single year, twice.

By mid-2026 Root sits at 166 Tests and roughly 14,100 runs, second only to Sachin Tendulkar on the all-time list. He's England's leading Test run-scorer, having gone past Alastair Cook's 12,472. He's also the only one of the four still adding to his numbers in every series.

 

Kane Williamson (New Zealand)

Williamson plays the fewest Tests of the four, simply because New Zealand plays fewer Tests than Australia, India or England. That's context, not an excuse.

His numbers don't need one anyway: 108 Tests, 9,461 runs, an average around 55, 33 centuries including 5 double hundreds. He led New Zealand to the inaugural World Test Championship title in 2021, beating India at Southampton.

Injuries have chipped away at his last few years. A torn ACL at the 2023 IPL kept him out for six months. A hamstring strain hit him again in 2024. He's still there when fit, still averaging above 50.

 

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Why did these four players become the Fab Four?

Consistency across all conditions

This is the real separator. Plenty of batters pile up runs at home and disappear overseas. These four didn't.

Kohli scored hundreds in Australia, England and South Africa, not just on flat Indian pitches. Smith mastered spin in India well enough to average over 60 there. Root has centuries on turning tracks in Asia and seaming ones in England. Williamson has a hundred against every Test nation he's faced.

Records that separate them from their peers

Root sits second on the all-time Test run charts. Smith's average of 56-plus ranks among the best of any batter past 8,000 runs. Kohli finished with 7 double centuries, an Indian record. Williamson has 5 double hundreds, a New Zealand record, and centuries against nine different opponents.

None of the four is a compiler padding stats against weak attacks. Every one of these numbers came against genuine bowling.

Leadership and match-winning impact

All four captained their countries in Tests. Kohli's India won 40 of the 68 Tests he led. Williamson delivered New Zealand's only ICC Test silverware. Smith and Root both steadied teams through turbulent periods, Smith after the ball-tampering fallout and Root through England's post-Ashes rebuild.

Leadership under pressure, not just runs in isolation, is why commentators kept coming back to these four names for over a decade.

 

Fab Four career comparison at a glance

Test matches, runs and batting average

Player	Tests	Runs	Average	Status
Joe Root	166	~14,100	~51.0	Active
Steve Smith	123	10,763	~56.7	Active
Kane Williamson	108	9,461	~55.0	Active
Virat Kohli	123	9,230	46.85	Retired (2025)

Test centuries and double hundreds

Player	Centuries	Double hundreds	Highest score
Joe Root	41	3	262
Steve Smith	37	3	239
Kane Williamson	33	5	251
Virat Kohli	30	7	254*

Home vs away performance

All four have overseas hundreds against strong attacks, which is what actually separates a great Test batter from a good one.

Smith averages over 60 in Asia, a region that has broken plenty of Australian batting line-ups. Kohli's tours of England and Australia produced some of his best innings, even in series India didn't win. Root's overseas average dipped for years before climbing back with hundreds in India, Pakistan and Australia. Williamson has scored centuries in England, Australia, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, a genuinely global record for a New Zealander.

 

Who is the best batter among the Fab Four?

There's no single right answer here. It depends what you value: peak form, longevity, conditions faced or sheer weight of runs.

Steve Smith's Test dominance

By pure average, Smith wins. Above 56 across 123 Tests, with a peak ICC rating second only to Don Bradman's all-time mark, is a number none of the other three has matched.

Virat Kohli's peak years

Nobody in this group had a purple patch quite like Kohli's 2016 to 2019 run. An average past 66 across three years, as captain, against everyone. If you're picking form over a stretch of years rather than a full career, Kohli's peak is the hardest to beat.

Joe Root's consistency

Root doesn't have Smith's average or Kohli's peak, but he has volume and longevity that neither can claim. Fourteen years in, still scoring hundreds, still improving. That's its own kind of greatness.

Kane Williamson's all-round class

Williamson rarely tops any individual category, yet he's in the argument for all of them: high average, most double hundreds among the four, a genuine global record, and the only ICC Test trophy any of them has won as captain.

 

How has the Fab Four debate changed since 2020?

Joe Root's incredible run

Root has been the story of the last five years. He went from a batter some feared had passed his best to England's greatest-ever Test run-scorer, overtaking Cook and closing in on Tendulkar. Nobody predicted this arc in 2019.

Virat Kohli's return to form

Kohli's story took a different turn. A prolonged dip pulled his average down before he found some form again in patches, then retired from Tests in 2025. The debate around him shifted from "current best" to "how do we judge a peak this high against a finish this uneven."

Steve Smith's consistency

Smith just kept scoring. No dramatic rise, no crash, just years of solid returns broken up by the occasional lean trot. That steadiness is exactly why he still leads the pack on average.

Kane Williamson's injury challenges

Williamson's last few years have been shaped by fitness more than form. A knee reconstruction in 2023, a hamstring issue in 2024, and reduced playing time overall. When healthy, he still bats like nothing has changed. Staying healthy has been the actual challenge.

 

Which Fab Four player has the best records?

Most Test runs

Joe Root, with roughly 14,100 runs and counting. He's the only one of the four still actively adding to this number.

Highest batting average

Steve Smith, above 56 across 123 Tests.

Most Test centuries

Joe Root, with 41.

Best away record

This one's close between Smith and Williamson. Smith's overseas average in Asia is exceptional for an Australian. Williamson has centuries in more different countries than any of the other three.

 

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Will there be a new Fab Four in the future?

Players who could replace the Fab Four

Several names keep coming up. Shubman Gill, India's Test captain since 2025, scored 269 against England at Birmingham and is widely tipped to lead India for a decade. Yashasvi Jaiswal has forced his way in as a fearless opener. Harry Brook has been central to England's aggressive "Bazball" era with the bat. Rachin Ravindra has established himself across formats for New Zealand.

Former players including Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler and Aakash Chopra have all floated some version of Gill, Jaiswal, Brook and Ravindra as the next Fab Four. It's not an official title. It's the same kind of prediction Martin Crowe made back in 2013.

Why building a new Fab Four takes time

The original four took roughly a decade to earn the label. Volume of runs, consistency across conditions, and leadership all needed time to show up in the numbers.

Gill, Jaiswal, Brook and Ravindra have shown flashes. None has played anywhere near enough Test cricket yet to be compared fairly with Smith, Kohli, Root or Williamson at their peaks. Give it a few more years before the label sticks for real.

 

Frequently asked questions

Who started the Fab Four debate in cricket?

Former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe coined the term in 2013, grouping Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, Joe Root and Kane Williamson as the batters who'd define the next decade of Test cricket.

Who has the most Test runs among the Fab Four?

Joe Root, with roughly 14,100 Test runs, ahead of Steve Smith, Kane Williamson and Virat Kohli.

Who has the highest Test batting average?

Steve Smith, with an average above 56 across 123 Tests, the best of the four.

Is Virat Kohli still part of the Fab Four?

Kohli retired from Test cricket in 2025. He's still part of the historical Fab Four conversation, since the label describes an era rather than a current playing status.

Why is Babar Azam not considered part of the Fab Four?

Babar debuted years after Smith, Kohli, Root and Williamson, and his Test volume and consistency, especially away from home, haven't matched theirs. He's often mentioned as a fifth name in casual debate, but he wasn't part of the original 2013 grouping.

Who is the best Fab Four player in Test cricket?

There's no single answer. Smith leads on average, Root leads on runs and centuries, Kohli had the highest peak, and Williamson has the best all-round global record and the only ICC Test title as captain. Take your pick based on what you value most.