There usually tends to be a lot of debate on who/what/which is ‘the best’ when it comes to anything in life. Best singer, best footballer, best film director – you name it. And discussions are generally drwan out through the ages without a definitive answer.
Similarly, in cricket fans tend to debate a lot about which batsman is the best in the world at any given moment in time. While there is no definitive answer to that, the International Cricket Council (ICC) run a ranking system which rates players in each of the three formats of the game.
Although everyone doesn’t agree with the rankings, it does somewhat indicate who the better cricketers currently are.
Then comes the another question. The ICC Rankings are separate for each format, so how can you dictate who the best batsman in the world across all formats is?
Well, one possible way is to add the three rankings for each player and see who comes out on top, and that is exactly what we have done here. We have taken the ranking of a player from all three formats and the summation is considered as a ‘Rating’.
For example, if a batsman is ranked third in Tests, seventh in ODIs and ninth in T20Is, then his Rating is considered as (3+7+9) = 19. The lower the rating, the higher the player is ranked [in case of a tie, the batsman with the higher Test ranking is rated higher].
Fair enough?
KOHLI LEADS THE WAY
Virat Kohli has been dominating one-day cricket for a long time now and in recent months, seems to have brought the same form to Test cricket. The Indian Test skipper is the only batsman ranked in the top three in all three formats and hence, it is not surprising that he tops this list.
Interestingly, a month ago – before the start of the India-England Test series – Kohli was ranked 12th in Tests which would have displaced him from the top spot here.
New Zealand’s Kane Williamson comes in second, with his rankings of fourth, fifth and sixth in Tests, ODIs and T20Is respectively. The Kiwi captain is followed by England’s Joe Root who is ranked as high as second in Test cricket, but finds himself at seventh place in the other two formats.
South Africa’s Hashim Amla and Australia’s David Warner both have a rating of 22, but Amla is positioned higher on the ICC Test Rankings and therefore slips above the Aussie opener.
NOTABLE OMISSIONS
South Africa’s AB de Villiers is often considered as the best batsman in the world across all formats due to his range of shots and adaptability to any situation. Some cricket followers have even called him the most complete batsman in the game’s history.
The Proteas skipper is ranked number one on the ODI Rankings, and is sixth in Tests [injury has seen him play no matches in the longest format of the game since January 2016]. But what has really hurt de Villiers is his T20I Ranking, being placed at a lowly 31st.
De Villiers is one of the best T20 batsmen when it comes to the Indian Premier League [IPL], but he hasn’t quite had similar success in international T20 cricket. While he averages over 50 in Tests and ODIs, his average is just 23.58 in T20Is, a far cry from what is expected from one of the most destructive batsmen in the world.
Another name that is surprisingly not on the list is Australian captain Steve Smith. The 27-year-old is the top-ranked batsman in Test cricket and is 16th in ODIs, but his ranking of 93 in T20Is is simply disastrous and throws him out of the equation even before you start making the list.
Here are the top five ranked batsmen across all three formats:
| Rank | Player | Test | ODI | T20I | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Virat Kohli | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| 2 | Kane Williamson | 4 | 5 | 6 | 15 |
| 3 | Joe Root | 2 | 7 | 7 | 16 |
| 4 | Hashim Amla | 5 | 6 | 11 | 22 |
| 5 | David Warner | 7 | 3 | 12 | 22 |
