Next Fab Four - Babar Azam, KL Rahul, Quinton de Kock and Shai Hope

[Abdullah Rabbani]

We have seen fab 4 described by Martin Crowe V Kohli , K Williamson , J Root And S Smith,they have shown their masterclass emergence as the great batsmen and have topped rankings in Test, ODI Or T20I more often than not.
Now,new young players are on the radar who have had promising starts to their respective careers and are likely to be be next Fab 4.

Babar Azam
Quinton de Kock
KL Rahul
Shai Hope

How do you rank them in terms of their ability and efficiency?

 

[kingusama92]

None of these guys are in that tier.

Plus, KL Rahul is 26 (turning 27 in April) and De Kock is turning 26 in a month. They're actually a part of the "Kohli/Smith/Williamson/Root" age bracket.

By 24, the current fab four was well-established while the names listed are still struggling in ODIs and/or Tests.

 

[jeeteshssaxena]

On basis of performance:
Quinton
Babar
Rahul
Shai
On basis of potential
Rahul
Quinton
Babar
Shai
BTW Markram should also br included in this.

 

[Abdullah Rabbani]

None of these guys are in that tier.

Plus, KL Rahul is 26 (turning 27 in April) and De Kock is turning 26 in a month. They're actually a part of the "Kohli/Smith/Williamson/Root" age bracket.

By 24, the current fab four was well-established while the names listed are still struggling in ODIs and/or Tests.

None Other Qualified For Fab 4 Aiden Markram , Kusal Mendis , Liton Das , Shimron Hetymer And Mominul Haq Need To Go Long Way To Prove

Other Than KL Rahul All Are Under 25 Four Year Difference From 1st Fab Four In Future Maybe KL Rahul Replaced How He Is Playing...

 

[Abdullah Rabbani]

No One Belive But Matt Renshaw , Shimrom Hetymer And Liton Das Have Great Potential To Become One Of Great Batsman

 

[freak_virat]

None Other Qualified For Fab 4 Aiden Markram , Kusal Mendis , Liton Das , Shimron Hetymer And Mominul Haq Need To Go Long Way To Prove

Other Than KL Rahul All Are Under 25 Four Year Difference From 1st Fab Four In Future Maybe KL Rahul Replaced How He Is Playing...

I guess he is trying to say that there are no fab 4 right now, and he is right to some level bcz previous fab 4 are far better than what you have suggested.

 

[pratiktc]

Babar Azam are Aiden Markram are future captains (will likely ascend in 2 years max) and expected to be batting flagbearers for their teams.

Rahul has enormous talent but does not seem to have mental strength to crack elite level and might end up Damien Martyn level batsman. Same goes for Shai Hope although given Windies lack of alternatives he will have to carry their batting for next 5-7 years.

QdK is keeper so cannot expect high level batting output from him anyway. He has exceeded expectations in ODIs and been merely good in Tests.

 

[Abdullah Rabbani]

I guess he is trying to say that there are no fab 4 right now, and he is right to some level bcz previous fab 4 are far better than what you have suggested.

Previous Get Much Time To Settle, They Struggle Because Of Team Much Settled And They Fighting For There Spot...

 

[Ab Fan]

KL Rahul, de Kock and Jos Butter are in same tier. Same age group but at the moment, KL is weakest of the three.

Aiden Markram, Babar Azam and Shai Hope are in same tier and for them, we can only talk about potential because they have just started and are only 23-24.

 

[Rahul1]

Such a shame about Rahul. The guy has the ability to be among the best batsmen in the world.

 

[Abdullah Rabbani]

Such a shame about Rahul. The guy has the ability to be among the best batsmen in the world.

KL Rahul Going Umar Akmal Way

 

[ind_win]

My prediction:

May not be as good as the current top 4, might be a poor man's top 5, but top5 in the next 5 years:

Kusal Mendis,sl

babar azam, pak

Matthew Renshaw, aus

Haseeb Hameed, eng

prithvi shaw, Ind

I have only listed those who already had a stint in International cricket.
The prospects, very good players might change from time to time - as it is a continuous process.

 

[Shaka81]

I'm going with Prithvi Shaw, Shimron Hetmeyer, Aiden Markram and I know it might be controversial but I'm adding Imam-ul-Haq to that list.

 

[Michael Chopra]

My prediction:

May not be as good as the current top 4, might be a poor man's top 5, but top5 in the next 5 years:

Kusal Mendis,sl

babar azam, pak

Matthew Renshaw, aus

Haseeb Hameed, eng

prithvi shaw, Ind

I have only listed those who already had a stint in International cricket.
The prospects, very good players might change from time to time - as it is a continuous process.

Haseeb Hameed cant even get runs for Lancashire.

 

[ind_win]

Haseeb Hameed cant even get runs for Lancashire.

One or two bad seasons does not make anyone bad or worse.
Based on the attitude and technique for the age that was on display during the Ind tour, I rate him.
If he does not turn out good, all the best for him in other fields of life if not in cricket.

 

[Abdullah Rabbani]

One or two bad seasons does not make anyone bad or worse.
Based on the attitude and technique for the age that was on display during the Ind tour, I rate him.
If he does not turn out good, all the best for him in other fields of life if not in cricket.

Ollie Pop Is Also Contender From England

 

[Abdullah Rabbani]

Now Top Young Are !
Babar Azam
Q de Kock
KL Rahul
S Hope

Next Are !

Aiden Markram
Shimron Hetymer
Prithiw Shaw
Matt Renshaw
Ollie Pop

 

[ind_win]

Ollie Pop Is Also Contender From England

yes, he looks balanced for his age.

 

[moghul]

And the young Indian opener Shaw will be on top , 2-3 years from now.

 

[MMHS]

Apart from Babar, none from PAK, BD, WIN & SRL should be in this list. Batting in cricket is a different beast - learned by a lengthy process, mastered in a FC system. We may believe Chris Gayle is a superstar bashing around PLs & SLs, but without his years between 19-25 for Jamaica, he won’t have anywhere near what he is now. Even Babar is never going to be in that class with a Test average, still below 30.

Among U23 players, I’ll go with Shaw, and may be Markram. Also, Gill should reach somewhere. Liton looks like Mark Waugh for his classy 20s & 30s, but that’s is his range which works perfectly in Dhaka League & BPL.

 

[AMSS]

KL Rahul is fast approaching the age where he can at best aspire to be a Hussey(or Laxman) , which in itself would be commendable. Hussey arrived on the scene when Ponting's powers were starting to wane, McGrath and Warne were about to retire, and there was a void in the famed batting line up. If not for Hussey, Australia's aura would have dismantled a lot sooner. KL Rahul should aspire to play consistent high impact innings that made Laxman as memorable as Dravid - without the latter's numbers.

Coming onto the OP, no promises in cricket but Shaw is the one to watch out for. The good thing for Babar is that he has built a momentum for himself and set a benchmark in LOIs. Markram, Hope, hetmeyer are all brimming with talent but consistency isn't there yet. Despairing for Australia that they haven't even a single up and coming prospect on the horizon. Keenly following Gill this season. He could be another blockbuster and has started off well. Fingers firmly crossed.

 

[Ahmed216]

Babar Azam are Aiden Markram are future captains (will likely ascend in 2 years max) and expected to be batting flagbearers for their teams.

Rahul has enormous talent but does not seem to have mental strength to crack elite level and might end up Damien Martyn level batsman. Same goes for Shai Hope although given Windies lack of alternatives he will have to carry their batting for next 5-7 years.

QdK is keeper so cannot expect high level batting output from him anyway. He has exceeded expectations in ODIs and been merely good in Tests.

Damien martyn was very good. And with the limited progress shown by KL and amount of batting talent India has it could be hard for him to even play half the number of matches martyn played for Australia

 

[rhony]

No One Belive But Matt Renshaw , Shimrom Hetymer And Liton Das Have Great Potential To Become One Of Great Batsman

Litton is a poor man's Fakhar. He's a hit or miss guy with a lot more misses than hits

 

[rhony]

I'm going with Prithvi Shaw, Shimron Hetmeyer, Aiden Markram and I know it might be controversial but I'm adding Imam-ul-Haq to that list.

Imam is certainly capable of 40 plus avg in both Tests and ODIs in a long career. Has a good temperment and a decent technique

 

[austerlitz]

Next fab four is -

Prithvi Shaw
Shai Hope
Aiden Markram
Shubman Gill

Hetmyer and babar outside chance.

 

[Abdullah Rabbani]

Imam is certainly capable of 40 plus avg in both Tests and ODIs in a long career. Has a good temperment and a decent technique

I don't think about imam but let see how he play against New Zealand and South Africa maybe i am wrong

 

[cricketindiafan]

Not one of them except Rahul have a respectable FC record. (All stats inclusive of their test records, which for all of them is much lower than their FC stat)

Babar Azam - 36 matches, 2432 runs@36, 2100s
Rahul - 70 matches, 5448 runs@48, 14 100s
De Kock - 64 matches, 4070 runs@41, 9 100s
Shai Hope - 52 matches, 3283 runs@39, 8 100s

Can’t remember any batsmen far exceeding his FC stats in tests.

Two names from India that can get to the list- Shaw and Vihari. Depends on how they perform in Australia

 

[Abdullah Rabbani]

Not one of them except Rahul have a respectable FC record. (All stats inclusive of their test records, which for all of them is much lower than their FC stat)

Babar Azam - 36 matches, 2432 runs@36, 2100s
Rahul - 70 matches, 5448 runs@48, 14 100s
De Kock - 64 matches, 4070 runs@41, 9 100s
Shai Hope - 52 matches, 3283 runs@39, 8 100s

Can’t remember any batsmen far exceeding his FC stats in tests.

Two names from India that can get to the list- Shaw and Vihari. Depends on how they perform in Australia

Younas Khan, Azhar Ali And Asad Shafiq Are Exapmple.

Exceeding there FC stats in tests.

 

[Hasan123]

KL and De Kock are a bit older . Don't think they should be on this list.

Markham,Hetmyer,Hope,and Babar are young batters who have impressed me.

 

[Abdullah Rabbani]

Don't Worry About Babar's Test Performances To Make Him In Fab Four He Showed So Much Improvement This Year Averaged 40+ And Play Great Innings To Save Pakistan From Ireland And Win Over England.
Playing His Natural Odi Game Helping Him In Next Coming Year's He Become Force In Test...

 

[jnaveen1980]

RUns matter at the end of the day. KL Rahul doesn't produce them. SO i would not keep hyping him. IT has to stop at sometime. "potentials" don't get you runs.

 

[RamLakhan]

KL Rahul is fast approaching the age where he can at best aspire to be a Hussey(or Laxman) , which in itself would be commendable. Hussey arrived on the scene when Ponting's powers were starting to wane, McGrath and Warne were about to retire, and there was a void in the famed batting line up. If not for Hussey, Australia's aura would have dismantled a lot sooner. KL Rahul should aspire to play consistent high impact innings that made Laxman as memorable as Dravid - without the latter's numbers.

Coming onto the OP, no promises in cricket but Shaw is the one to watch out for. The good thing for Babar is that he has built a momentum for himself and set a benchmark in LOIs. Markram, Hope, hetmeyer are all brimming with talent but consistency isn't there yet. Despairing for Australia that they haven't even a single up and coming prospect on the horizon. Keenly following Gill this season. He could be another blockbuster and has started off well. Fingers firmly crossed.

That's a very good encouragement for Rahul. Hope Rahul can read this (or get info some way) and build his career at least this way!

 

[Abdullah Rabbani]

That's a very good encouragement for Rahul. Hope Rahul can read this (or get info some way) and build his career at least this way!

He is good repalcement of s dhawan

 

[pratiktc]

Damien martyn was very good. And with the limited progress shown by KL and amount of batting talent India has it could be hard for him to even play half the number of matches martyn played for Australia

You misunderstand me. I meant he will end up as his generation's second level great like Martyn likely (not quite in elite level ala Ponting, Lara, SRT of his generation)

Statistically, he will comfortably surpass Martyn. He has already played 31 matches to Martyn's 67. It is most likely Rahul will end up playing 110-120 tests atleast for around 7500-8000 runs at close to 45 career avg

Rahul will undoubtedly go on a killer run in his peak phase (28-32) where he averages 50-55 over a 25-30 test span. But overall, being opener he will regress back to overall 45 avg with eventual end stage decline

 

[Abdullah Rabbani]

Looking in future only babar and de kock are rivals ,
Other young batsmen , k medis, shai hope, rahul , dickwella and liton failed back to back.

 

[Pakhs]

KL Rahul is not really that young his time should be now.

 

[Madplayer]

Babar has held his own. Rest are just hot air. Babar seems to have no rivals it seems. He is part of Fab 1

 

[Abdullah Rabbani]

Babar has held his own. Rest are just hot air. Babar seems to have no rivals it seems. He is part of Fab 1

Looking like this.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

Babar and Hetmyer are in another league.

Hope is good too but a tad below.

 

[Abdullah Rabbani]

Babar and Hetmyer are in another league.

Hope is good too but a tad below.

I think hope have same problem like A markram poor against spin

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Babar and Hetmyer are in another league.

Hope is good too but a tad below.

Came here to post this.

 

[DRsohail]

Came here to post this.

 

[Abdullah Rabbani]

Shai hope turning into a beast smashed 16 ball fifty against Bangladesh,

Nice competition between these four now.

 

[Varun]

KL Rahul?

Spot the odd one out.

 

[Reverse Sweep]

Rachin Ravindra is one to watch. He will be a superstar

 

[Mainul]

KL Rahul ...LOL...
Hope will surpass the top 3 within short time.

 

[rudra]

Please remove KL, its embarressing.

 

[Sunny_majoka]

KL is disgrace to this thread

 

[Bilal7]

Rahul is a failure. This should be the end of his hype.

 

[Abdullah Rabbani]

Please remove KL, its embarressing.

So what you think who replace rahul

 

[Abdullah Rabbani]

Babar Azam vs Shai Hope

Which one is better batsman

Shai Hope


Babar Azam

 

[Someone]

Babar Azam , Shai Hope , Kusal Mendis , Aiden Markram.. will form next gen Fab Four. Mark my words.

 

[Ashraful_Rox]

Babar Azam for me, he is comparable to Kohli in ODI's

 

[Sunny_majoka]

babar azam stand out for me at the moment.
but we can see the real picture only after 2 to 3 years.

 

[Abdullah Rabbani]

Babar Azam , Shai Hope , Kusal Mendis , Aiden Markram.. will form next gen Fab Four. Mark my words.

Kusal medis is shadow of umar akmal

 

[kingusama92]

Babar Azam for me, he is comparable to Kohli in ODI's

He has a long way to go.

Babar doesn't chase well (averages 38.90 in 2nd innings). He's a good player while setting scores but seems to lose his nerve with scoreboard pressure.

In comparison, Kohli currently averages 69.34 in chases.

Even at the same age, Kohli had a better average in ODI chases (61.01).

 

[topspin]

I'm going with Prithvi Shaw, Shimron Hetmeyer, Aiden Markram and I know it might be controversial but I'm adding Imam-ul-Haq to that list.

Might as well go on and add Sami Aslam while you're at it.

 

[hadi123]

Babar Azam for me, he is comparable to Kohli in ODI's

No, No, No. My eyes! Can't believe I've seen such a post. Virat Kohli is 10x the ODI batsman Babar Azam is, Azam can only dream of playing some of the innings Kohli has. This isn't putting Babar Azam down, he's still a good batsman but there's no shame in being a lot worse than Kohli, who is one of the best batsman to have ever lived.

 

[rudra]

So what you think who replace rahul

Markram

 

[Abdullah Rabbani]

Babar Is On Top

 

[austerlitz]

Where is prithvi shaw?

 

[Madplayer]

Where is prithvi shaw?

What has he done so far?

 

[Muhammad Saad]

Who are the fab 4 of cricket in today's world?

Why Babar Azam isn't among them?

 

[Muhammad Saad]

Discuss please

 

[geraltofrivia]

poor test average

 

[Ronaldo7]

Coz he's too young. He hasn't played enough matches.

 

[Ronaldo7]

Fab 4:
Kohli, root, Williamson, smith

 

[Gilly]

Why Babar Azam isn't among them?

Because he would make it five.

 

[Ram Shekhar]

Fab 4 is an overrated term. People should get over it. There are many other good batsmen like Jos Buttler, Jason Roy, Kusal Perera, Babar Azam, Shai Hope who are dong equally well or even better than say Williamson or Root. A good innings must be appreciated and people should move on. Labelling is not really necessary.

 

[Sean143]

poor test average

His Test average has been very high in the last year or so, and is expected to to around 45 in about a year, when he gets promoted to 4, which I think he would be from the next series. Te problem though is that we aren't playing test cricket for a long time.

 

[Sean143]

Babar is pretty much a contender for the leader of next generation's fab 4. Do remember the fact that he is only 24 atm, while the likes of Smith and Kohli are 30+.

 

[Mueez]

Babar is a great bat.

But he will have to play more matchwinning knocks to get considered in the fab four.

In my opinion he can replace Kane Williamson easily.

 

[emranabbas]

Kohli Babar fakhar imam

Everybody else is rubbish according to most on this forum

 

[Sean143]

Gill might not be amongst the fab four, have a feeling that he might get wasted. Rohit, Dhawan and Kohli are going to be there till the next WC at least. Same thing happened to Raina who was immensely talented, but Kohli was just too good. I feel by the time Kohli retires another youngster would come in to take the lead, India is never going to be short of WC batters.

 

[emranabbas]

Babar is a great bat.

But he will have to play more matchwinning knocks to get considered in the fab four.

In my opinion he can replace Kane Williamson easily.

How many match winning knocks had he play so far? And Vs who??

 

[Sean143]

Babar is a great bat.

But he will have to play more matchwinning knocks to get considered in the fab four.

In my opinion he can replace Kane Williamson easily.

Babar is very young too, almost from an entirety different generation of batters, the comparison is unfair.

 

[Chokli]

There is a fab five.

Kohli, root, Williamson, smith, babar

 

[shah_1]

Isn't Pujara better than Willamson and Root? Why isn't he in that top 4?

10 to 15 years ago world cricket had so many 50+ average batsman, and compare with only 5 batsmen in the current time.

 

[Bhaijaan]

There is no fab 4 of world cricket.

Sweet Smith is the greatest overall batsman of this generation followed by King Kohli.

The rest of the mortals do not belong in the club.

 

[Rathore]

no buttler? He is the best player in the world right now leaving kohli, smith behind and that is coming from sir viv. Imo he will top 5 atg in the history of cricket by the end of his career.