Is the Fab Four really the Fab Four anymore?

December 2018. The grand Optus Stadium in Perth is hosting its first Test match. India are on the mat at 8-2. Out struts Virat Kohli with an air of confidence that you’d normally associate with one of the best batters in the world. Oh wait, he is one of the best batters in the world. Unsurprisingly, he scores a century and celebrates with a ‘my-bat-does-all-the-talking’ gesture.

After that game, his Test career runs stand at 6508. Exactly the same as Joe Root at that point in time. Steve Smith is at 6,199 runs and Kane Williamson is at 5815.

By that time, the end of 2018 that is, the Fab Four has been in existence for the last four years, a term coined by the late Martin Crowe in 2014 to earmark four potential batting superstars of the future. From friend groups to big media houses, everyone is constantly tracking the movements of this Fab 4 on the ladder of Test cricket. There are wide-ranging debates with different caveats and filters thrown in to conveniently reach the conclusion that one wants. However, there is somewhat of an acceptance that Kohli and Smith are slightly ahead of Root and Williamson.

Since the pandemic, Williamson has played half of his 14 Test matches at home and the other half away. While his overseas record hasn't improved dramatically, his home record has. He averages 111.80 at home in this period and 48.18 outside. Unfortunately, recurring injuries have meant that he has not been able to utilise the peak of his powers as much as he would have liked. However, the sheer volume of his scoring has definitely improved his standing among the Fab 4.

Steve Smith

Smith used to be a freak. He still is by the way of his batting mannerisms, but if you looked at plain numbers, you would see 7,227 runs at an average of 62.84 before the pandemic struck. No one in the history of Test cricket had more runs than him at a higher average at that point. After Don Bradman, he was the only one with more than 5,000 runs and an average above 60 in Test matches.

This even included the one-year period where Smith was banned from international cricket due to the infamous ball-tampering saga. He made a triumphant comeback from that in the 2019 Ashes and struck two back-to-back centuries in one of the most memorable performances in Ashes history.

However, since the pandemic, his returns have dropped a fair bit. He has still scored 1,742 runs in 25 matches at an average of 48.38 - a more than decent record, but let's be real, this is not what you expect of Steve Smith in Test cricket.

Virat Kohli

Remember the 'my-bat-does-all-the-talking' celebration from above? That century by Kohli in Perth in 2018 is still his last overseas Test century. He scored two more after that in India before the pandemic, before his fortunes completely nose-dived.

Since the resumption of international cricket in July 2020, Kohli has scored just 1,239 runs from 23 Test matches at an average of 31.76, with only one three-digit score. Outside of India, that average falls down to 29.68.

Kohli's peak was ridiculous. Between 2016-2019, he scored 4,208 runs in 43 Tests at an average of 66.79 with 16 centuries and ten half-centuries. It is perhaps this peak that has made sure that he hasn't been dropped from the Test team.

He has made a sparkling return to top form in limited-overs cricket recently. However, apart from his century against Australia on the flat track of Ahmedabad, he has nothing to show in Test cricket in the last couple of years. Both Kohli and Test cricket would like that to change soon.

The hierarchy of the Fab 4 has forever fluctuated. But it has rarely been in the state it is now. Root is the No.1 ranked Test batter in the world. Williamson is averaging nearly 80 in the last three years, while Smith and Kohli have dropped off by varying degrees.

Root and Williamson are 32 and have a couple of years over Smith and Kohli. Perhaps that has played a part in the trajectories they have had. Perhaps Root and Williamson will suffer similar downturns as the other two as they get older. Whatever happens, the Fab 4 has lived up to the expectations of the late Martin Crowe and are at different stages of their careers, no longer competing with each other.

It's like a group of four college friends that have enjoyed some of their best years together, but have now graduated and drifted apart with each going on their respective paths. Everyone likes a reunion and if it happens, it would be great. But it rarely does.