Fab 4 2020-2025

[gattaca]

[gattaca]

Root flipped the script. Someone on this forum wanted Kohli to still play.

[goose]

kohli by far the prettiest shotmaker out of that four. playing ugly works. very few can look good and be profilic at the same time. hence tendulkar and lara always being a notch above.

[Chakdephatte]

12 minutes ago, goose said:

kohli by far the prettiest shotmaker out of that four. playing ugly works. 

Root and Williamson are also beautiful strokemakers. Especially Williamson. Also Brook. They all succeeded. 

[goose]

3 minutes ago, Chakdephatte said:

Root and Williamson are also beautiful strokemakers. Especially Williamson. Also Brook. They all succeeded. 

 

i never enjoyed root batting one bit. as for brook - he could be having a kohli type patch - when weight of failure hits him and he has to change let's see how he goes

[putrevus]

28 minutes ago, gattaca said:

You seem to be taking perverse happiness about it lol.

 

That is the reason why some of us  wanted to give this guy more chances so he could rediscover his touch.But he never did which was shocking considering he was just 31 or 32.Never seen a case like Kohli before, someone falling off the cliff like him at such young age.

 

Good for Root , he has been just out of this world in last five years.

[Gollum]

1 minute ago, putrevus said:

You seem to be taking perverse happiness about it lol.

 

That is the reason why some of us  wanted to give this guy more chances so he could rediscover his touch.But he never did which was shocking considering he was just 31 or 32.Never seen a case like Kohli before, someone falling off the cliff like him at such young age.

 

Good for Root , he has been just out of this world in last five years.

Kohli has only himself to blame. After looking like his prime self in RSA in 2023-24 (Smith, Root, Kane have never batted like that in RSA, only peak ABDV could compare), he should have played the home series against England. Missing one test due to birth of child is fine, but he suddenly went missing after being with the squad till 48 hours before the first test, no one saw that coming.

 

When God gives you an opening, better take it. I am 100% sure that had he played that series (even 4 tests) he would have scored many runs, been an integral part of a marquee series win, scored big 100s and regained his confidence, and passion for test cricket. After that his career trajectory would have been different, and he himself wouldn't have felt disheartened after setbacks like NZ series or BGT last year. Biggest professional blunder of his career and I have been saying it for a long time. Root, Smith, Kane would never have let go off such an opportunity, and that is why they are still going strong. 

[Gollum]

Had Kohli committed himself to test cricket post his revival in RSA, can you imagine him not scoring 500+ runs in Eng this year? 11-12k runs, another 7-8 test 100s (bringing Sachin's 100 100s within reach), a chance to bring average back to 50.....ultimate harakiri. 

 

Ashwin's decline in 2024 was because he was old (even Warne, Kumble, Murali, Saqlain, Herath, Vettori never played tests when they were 38), and his fitness let him down....same with Shami now. But Kohli even now is one of the fittest players around, like 36 yo Jadeja. 

[putrevus]

25 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Kohli has only himself to blame. After looking like his prime self in RSA in 2023-24 (Smith, Root, Kane have never batted like that in RSA, only peak ABDV could compare), he should have played the home series against England. Missing one test due to birth of child is fine, but he suddenly went missing after being with the squad till 48 hours before the first test, no one saw that coming.

 

When God gives you an opening, better take it. I am 100% sure that had he played that series (even 4 tests) he would have scored many runs, been an integral part of a marquee series win, scored big 100s and regained his confidence, and passion for test cricket. After that his career trajectory would have been different, and he himself wouldn't have felt disheartened after setbacks like NZ series or BGT last year. Biggest professional blunder of his career and I have been saying it for a long time. Root, Smith, Kane would never have let go off such an opportunity, and that is why they are still going strong. 

100 percent, he has to blame himself. I feel he stopped working on his game.Even yesterday he was saying he does not need any match practice, he comes mentally preprared and that is enough.Gym and mental prepartions don't fix technical issues.He looks fresh in this series though. 

 

You get away with some mistakes in odis as field is spread, Sachin played Ranji match even in last season.

 

Kohli always had technical issues to begin with,I don't think he ever knew where his offstump was thruout his career.Root on other hand has simple repeatable technique.He always plays FC matches.

 

 

Playing all three formats for decade with energy he spent every day on the field took its toll . We saw Gill after one season he looked mentally drained .

 

Edited December 4, 2025 by putrevus

[gattaca]

40 minutes ago, putrevus said:

You seem to be taking perverse happiness about it lol.

 

That is the reason why some of us  wanted to give this guy more chances so he could rediscover his touch.But he never did which was shocking considering he was just 31 or 32.Never seen a case like Kohli before, someone falling off the cliff like him at such young age.

 

Good for Root , he has been just out of this world in last five years.

It’s a lost chance for India. It was his fault. He was always looking to poke outside off. I lost count on amount of times he would do it. He never developed a backfoot game. He couldn’t play good spin bowling as well. Because his backfoot game is non existent. 

Edited December 4, 2025 by gattaca

[gattaca]

32 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Had Kohli committed himself to test cricket post his revival in RSA, can you imagine him not scoring 500+ runs in Eng this year? 11-12k runs, another 7-8 test 100s (bringing Sachin's 100 100s within reach), a chance to bring average back to 50.....ultimate harakiri. 

 

Ashwin's decline in 2024 was because he was old (even Warne, Kumble, Murali, Saqlain, Herath, Vettori never played tests when they were 38), and his fitness let him down....same with Shami now. But Kohli even now is one of the fittest players around, like 36 yo Jadeja. 

I feel he has retired after kids are born a bit like Bollywood actress. He is more in to brand value and money now. He also moved out of India. So he lost his drive after kids. May be him loosing captaincy also played a part. Sachin probably is the only guy who never lost his love for the game regardless of formats. I remember India used to continuously play Odis and very few tests and it was year round. 

Edited December 4, 2025 by gattaca

[putrevus]

4 hours ago, gattaca said:

It’s a lost chance for India. It was his fault. He was always looking to poke outside off. I lost count on amount of times he would do it. He never developed a backfoot game. He couldn’t play good spin bowling as well. Because his backfoot game is non existent. 

It was his fault only.After Covid his priorities also seem to have changed. Now looking back so much long rope given to him seems to have all been wasted. 

 

How can he have scored so many runs without having backfoot game. I don't think he was this bad against spin when he was good.He still has higher avg in India better than Sachin, Sehwag, Gavaskar, and Dravid even after all his struggles.

 

Playing with so much intensity does take toll.

Edited December 4, 2025 by putrevus

[BacktoCricaddict]

5 hours ago, putrevus said:

100 percent, he has to blame himself. I feel he stopped working on his game.Even yesterday he was saying he does not need any match practice, he comes mentally preprared and that is enough.Gym and mental prepartions don't fix technical issues.He looks fresh in this series though. 

 

You get away with some mistakes in odis as field is spread, Sachin played Ranji match even in last season.

 

Kohli always had technical issues to begin with,I don't think he ever knew where his offstump was thruout his career.Root on other hand has simple repeatable technique.He always plays FC matches.

 

 

Playing all three formats for decade with energy he spent every day on the field took its toll . We saw Gill after one season he looked mentally drained .

 

 

Kohli's plusses:

Commitment to excellence, commitment to team, commitment to fitness, takes genuine joy in winning and in the achievements of his team-mates. 

 

Kohli's minuses:

Tests: Poking outside off. Simply does not want to learn even after being burned so many times. I don't think it is "technical." It seems like he is stubborn and unwilling to change.

 

T20Is: The game has moved on to power-hitting. He is not one. Can still thrive in franchise cricket with consistent knocks at decent SR.

 

Hard to find one for ODIs right now. 

[vvvslaxman]

There is only Fab 3.  Kohli embarrassed himself out of this  list.

[putrevus]

2 hours ago, BacktoCricaddict said:

 

Kohli's plusses:

Commitment to excellence, commitment to team, commitment to fitness, takes genuine joy in winning and in the achievements of his team-mates. 

 

Kohli's minuses:

Tests: Poking outside off. Simply does not want to learn even after being burned so many times. I don't think it is "technical." It seems like he is stubborn and unwilling to change.

 

T20Is: The game has moved on to power-hitting. He is not one. Can still thrive in franchise cricket with consistent knocks at decent SR.

 

Hard to find one for ODIs right now. 

Poking is technical it  happens when you don't know where your offstump is  , plus biggest negative for Kohli, he had no scoring shot except cover drive thru offside whole offside.He stopped playing cut and had no other back foot game.

 

Bowlers started bowling 7th and 8th stump lines, he  got stuck and eventually chased a wide on.He needed to come up with some release shots to turn the strike over and not get stuck at one end.

 

The more he failed more desperate and reluctant he became, it is all mental game, batsman need to spend time in the middle to get confidence going also.He looked good in SA when he scored 70 odd but then skipped England series that was the beginning of his end.

 

Every batsman goes thru it at some stage in their career, he needed to be gutsy and do something different which he never did, these bunsen burners in India  did more harm than good.to him and all other batsmen in the team

 

He was trying to will his way to score more runs but he was reluctant to do something different.

 

 

[maniac]

Among the fab  4 only Kohli will walk into world  ATG lists in both T20s and ODIS.  Obviously he won’t even come close in tests.

 

Smith might not even make ATG odi or T20 X1 of Australia lol. Tests he has a case for ATG Aussie X1 that too boderline.

 

Williamson will walk into ATG NZ X1 in all 3 formats but won’t even be anywhere in discussion for world ATG. 
 

Root might walk into England Test and ODI ATGX1 that’s about it. 
 

so Virat Kohli it is