There are minimal disputes over the members of ‘fab four’ Steve Smith, Kane Williamson, Virat Kohli and Joe Root proudly make up the list of most elite batsmen across all formats. But, when it comes to selecting the best among them, it becomes a debate that never seems to settle.
Every expert and viewers have their own preference. In his recent interview with Anis Sajan, former Sri Lanka captain Anglo Mathews was asked to pick the best among them. Mathews thinks it is Virat who stands head and shoulders above his contemporaries.
Mathews, who played against all four batsmen, said the consistency with which Virat scores makes him a superior player.
“I would go with Virat Kohli as he is one of the most consistent after Sangakkara,” Mathews said.
Many former cricketers have chosen Kohli as their first choice. The stylish right-handed batsman is undoubtedly the most consistent batsman across all formats, as evident from statistics and his ICC ranking.
Mathews further reminisced about the 2011 World Cup final against India at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Mathews, who was a part of Sri Lankan squad, feels that his team fell short of around 30-odd runs to give a tough fight to the home nation.
“I still feel that if we had gotten about 320, we could’ve given a good fight even against India’s strong batting line-up. Indian wickets are flat as roads and when a batsman gets going, it can be really tough to stop him. India had a gun batting line-up as well. Wankhede is not a massive stadium, but the ball stays hit when you hit it and the pitch was also good,” asserted Mathews.
“We were short by about 20 to 30 runs. We had our chances, but Gautam (Gambhir) and Virat (Kohli) batted really well. Then, MS Dhoni joined them and finished it off. All in all, it was a good game.”
