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Why have none of the Fab 4 scored a T20I century yet?

msb314

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The Fab 4 of Kohli, Smith, Williamson and Root have dominated Test and ODi cricket for the best part of the last half a decade but have not been quite as dominating in T20's with the exception of Kohli.

Looks at StatsGuru - I noticed none of them have a T20 century. By coincidence 3 of them (Kohli, Root and Smith) all have a highest T20 score of exactly 90!

Root and Smith only have 4 and 2 T20 half centuries to their name whilst Williamson and Kohli have fared better.

So down the question - why haven't the Fab 4 scored a T20 century yet whereas the likes of Gayle, McCullum, Faf, Guptill, Hales and even Jayawardene and Raina have T20 centuries to their name?

Interestingly they all bat at no. 3 for their international teams so they should get plenty of time to play many overs.

Is it due to:

A) Not spending enough time at the crease
B) Lack of interest in T20's
C) Trying to play the anchor role too often
D) Lacking the power and strength to clear the ropes easily (except Kohli)

Discuss!
 
The problem is C.

They are either selfish or don't understand T20 and cost their sides matches by batting slow.

Caveat Kohli is so good that even with a dumb strategy he has amazing results. Joe Root doesn't play T20 leagues so less volume, but he's actually quite good.

Williamson and Smith are absolute trash at T20. Great at playing match-losing knocks at least as often as match-winning knocks. And no a match-winner doesn't make up for a match-losing knock.

DAILY REMINDER: Afridi 0 (1) is much much better than Kane Williamson 19 (20).
 
Valuing their wickets too much. Not just true for 4 of them, it's true for many. In T-20, tons can be scored if you value your wickets less.
 
The problem is C.

They are either selfish or don't understand T20 and cost their sides matches by batting slow.

Caveat Kohli is so good that even with a dumb strategy he has amazing results. Joe Root doesn't play T20 leagues so less volume, but he's actually quite good.

Williamson and Smith are absolute trash at T20. Great at playing match-losing knocks at least as often as match-winning knocks. And no a match-winner doesn't make up for a match-losing knock.

DAILY REMINDER: Afridi 0 (1) is much much better than Kane Williamson 19 (20).

Root is no better than Kane/Smith. He played 3 consecutive match-losing knocks against India in the last T20 series.
 
The fact that India play quite less T20i matches is the reason Kohli hasn't been able to make a century, plus the likes of Rohit and Dhawan are very good in t20is and kohli gets lesser overs to bat in. He will soon score a t20i century.

Root and Williamson are least likely to score a ton in t20i because they just don't have the firepower for t20s. Yes they are exceptional in ODIs but t20 is a different beast. Both root and williamson need some time to get going and they dont have the power shots to hit out. They are good strike rotaters but can struggle to "get going" in t20 sense.

Smith is an interesting fellow here cause he spent most of his time in t20i career batting way too low. It was only in 2015 that he started to come up the order. Although he hasn't set the world alight and Finch and Warner are brilliant t20 players, I feel Smith might be able to get a ton in the shortest format owing to him being a different batter than Root and Kane.

I feel Kane might still be able to get a ton in the shortest format depending on his day and he opens usually but I don't expect Root to get to 3 figures in t20s.
 
I am pretty sure Virat will get there.
 
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There surely is lack of power.

Root, Kohli, Smith and Kane are not power hitters. Of these 4, I back Kohli and Smith to score a T20 century soon. Root and Kane are simply not cut for T20 cricket.

You need brute power and wide range of strokes to be a beast in T20. Hence Rohit and Raina have one and Kohli has none.

Kohli even in T20 cricket looks to score 2’s a lot where as Rohit tries to hit the ball out of the ground.
 
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Kane and Root lack proper power hitting ability.Smith isn’t a good T20 batsman,but I think Kohli will get there.
 
If Kohli opens regularly in T20Is, he will get many hundreds. He got 4 in one IPL season.
 
If Kohli opens regularly in T20Is, he will get many hundreds. He got 4 in one IPL season.

He would open if Dhwaan wasn't in the side. Think India want a left/right hand combination. Can't drop Rohit or move him down the order.
 
Smith and kohli can get 100 in t20s. These both can play quick fire knocks. Infact both of them have scored 100 in t20s
Those who say smith is trash in a t20 He started batting top of the order in 2015 and played only 7 innings and has scored a 90 and 63 .
 
Smith and kohli can get 100 in t20s. These both can play quick fire knocks. Infact both of them have scored 100 in t20s
Those who say smith is trash in a t20 He started batting top of the order in 2015 and played only 7 innings and has scored a 90 and 63 .

The problem with Smith isn't that he can't score runs. It's that he scores them too slowly. In the first place, scoring a 90 and a 63 isn't good enough if the other 5 innings are often match-losing or negative impact.

In the second place, you didn't mention the context (scores in match) or how many balls he scored 63 in. For example 63 (50) is usually match-losing material and exactly the point people are making when they call him trash. I can see his innings was 61 (43) in a game where they scored 190 and chasing scored 172. 61 (43) is decent enough here but nothing more.

His last few t20 innings.

51 (50) match-losing innings he should be sacked for. Cost his team an IPL win with his stupid, selfish, brainless batting.

1 (2)

15* (18)

38 (32), (worse than the 1st ball duck). Contributed heavily to a choked chase.

34 (39): Give up t20 cricket you selfish, over-rated loser.....

9 (9)

4 (2)

45 (32)

51* (37) (Team posted sub-par score and it got gunned down with 2 overs and 7 wickets to spare)

17 (12)

27 (21):

This is the reason why people who look a little deeper correctly say that Smith is trash in T20.
 
And connected to another thread, I wish I could just consolidate and show people similar numbers for Afridi and maybe some people get why Afridi is streets ahead of Smith as a T20 batsman...the key is no negative contributions and reasonably common good contributions.

In this entire list of innings Smith had 1 game which barely mattered what he did 15* (18) when he was chasing 76 to win.

The rest he had 45 (32) in one game where his side posted a low score they defended easily, so you could give him some credit.

The rest has 3 definitely match-losing contributions that were a lot worse than a first ball duck.

One debatable contribution: 51 (37) that was in my opinion too slow in a total that was chased down very easily. And slightly worse than first ball duck in my opinion.

Three innings that were approximately as bad as a first ball duck. 9 (9), 4 (2), 27 (21)

One innings 17 (12) that was a marginally positive contribution.
 
They are trying to play the anchor role that's why. If they showed more intent they could potentially score a century.
 
Lol at "FAB 4".... it is more like FAB 2 with Kohli and Smith being the only two who could be really considered "FAB"


Kane and Root will not even go down as ATG.
 
The problem with Smith isn't that he can't score runs. It's that he scores them too slowly. In the first place, scoring a 90 and a 63 isn't good enough if the other 5 innings are often match-losing or negative impact.

In the second place, you didn't mention the context (scores in match) or how many balls he scored 63 in. For example 63 (50) is usually match-losing material and exactly the point people are making when they call him trash. I can see his innings was 61 (43) in a game where they scored 190 and chasing scored 172. 61 (43) is decent enough here but nothing more.

His last few t20 innings.

51 (50) match-losing innings he should be sacked for. Cost his team an IPL win with his stupid, selfish, brainless batting.

1 (2)

15* (18)

38 (32), (worse than the 1st ball duck). Contributed heavily to a choked chase.

34 (39): Give up t20 cricket you selfish, over-rated loser.....

9 (9)

4 (2)

45 (32)

51* (37) (Team posted sub-par score and it got gunned down with 2 overs and 7 wickets to spare)

17 (12)

27 (21):

This is the reason why people who look a little deeper correctly say that Smith is trash in T20.

That 51 run final innings was superb. But luck wasnt on his side. You forgot to mention hus 84 in 1st match. Scored a 100 last season. Bide a way how much did king trash kohli scored in ipl 2017. Selfish half-centuries. Could not even cross group stages
 
That 51 run final innings was superb. But luck wasnt on his side. You forgot to mention hus 84 in 1st match. Scored a 100 last season. Bide a way how much did king trash kohli scored in ipl 2017. Selfish half-centuries. Could not even cross group stages

Totally agree Kohli played similar trash strategy. And in this IPL his execution was not great so he performed awfully as well. But Smith was beyond awful in the final. A first ball duck was so much better than the way he threw away the match.
 
If u read my posts you might have realized I think all these guys are too slow and selfish. Kohli is just better than the rest and so still has great results overall.
 
If u read my posts you might have realized I think all these guys are too slow and selfish. Kohli is just better than the rest and so still has great results overall
If Smith plays more t20s then he can also match kohli. He has the strokes and he also finish games
 
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If Smith plays more t20s then he can also match kohli. He has the strokes and he also finish games

It's a couple of things. Compared to most people Smith is hyper-skilled, so yeah he has strokes and can finish. He is still too selfish and slow which makes him very poor despite his skills.

Kohli has the exact same approach, but when it comes to white ball cricket, he is in a different league to Smith, Kane etc....thus even with a very poor strategy he still has good results (although this IPL was an exception to that general trend). Similarly, prior to his ageing, Dhoni would still take ages to play himself in, leave huge run rates needed, but it was fine, because he had the ability to put in the huge hits and compensate for the bad strategy with great execution.

Smith's special ability is far more long form oriented where he is truly special at being able to keep out almost anything.
 
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Lol at "FAB 4".... it is more like FAB 2 with Kohli and Smith being the only two who could be really considered "FAB"


Kane and Root will not even go down as ATG.

Bhai Kane averages 47 in ODI’s and 49 in Test cricket.

Kane is already considered to be NZ’s greatest ever batsman only maybe behind Martin Crowe.

:danish
 
Bhai Kane averages 47 in ODI’s and 49 in Test cricket.

Kane is already considered to be NZ’s greatest ever batsman only maybe behind Martin Crowe.

:danish

He is incompetent at one format, good at one and exceptional in a third.

That's not even Glenn Maxwell territory.
 
Bhai Kane averages 47 in ODI’s and 49 in Test cricket.

Kane is already considered to be NZ’s greatest ever batsman only maybe behind Martin Crowe.

:danish

Average of 47 and 49 are no doubt good, but they are not ATG level if you see the averages of the other bats in this era.
 
Average of 47 and 49 are no doubt good, but they are not ATG level if you see the averages of the other bats in this era.

What's more average is not the metric in white ball cricket.

47 at a SR of 83 in ODIs is nothing so special. The Strike Rate is poor for modern ODI, at least by the standard of elite players.
 
What's more average is not the metric in white ball cricket.

47 at a SR of 83 in ODIs is nothing so special. The Strike Rate is poor for modern ODI, at least by the standard of elite players.

Exactly average in isolation is a very bad metric in LOI cricket.


Misbah fans will tell you that Misbah has the highest (or second highest?) ODI average ever for Pakistan, but they would generally forget to mention the SR part. We all know how many defeats Misbah was directly responsible for with his garbage tuk tuk batting scoring a 50 in 80 balls.
 
It's tough to score hundreds in T20s for anyone who can't hit sixes at will. That is the reason.

Lol at "FAB 4".... it is more like FAB 2 with Kohli and Smith being the only two who could be really considered "FAB"


Kane and Root will not even go down as ATG.

Amir saara "fab" nikaldey ga, next year at the Asia Cup. :kohli
 
Bhai Kane averages 47 in ODI’s and 49 in Test cricket.

Kane is already considered to be NZ’s greatest ever batsman only maybe behind Martin Crowe.

:danish
Kane isn't better than Guptill or Taylor in ODI's, he'll finish behind both IMO.

McCullum is debatable too, but I'd take him over Kane because of the countless number of impact knocks and match winning innings he's played for us.

Ryder would have been right up there too...

I didn't see much of Astle but he's held in high regard as well.
 
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Ngl they got close. It's mainly because their openers are good and last long.
 
In t20 it is difficult for a number 3 to get a 100 unless an opener falls in the first over.
 
Kane isn't better than Guptill or Taylor in ODI's, he'll finish behind both IMO.

McCullum is debatable too, but I'd take him over Kane because of the countless number of impact knocks and match winning innings he's played for us.

Ryder would have been right up there too...

I didn't see much of Astle but he's held in high regard as well.

Guptill is phenomental striker of the ball and a great FTB - however he is not as consistent as Williamson and is fully able to take advantage of the PP.

Ross Taylor is a fine batsman himself and had great consistency throughout his career. However, he bats too slowly for my liking - too often do I see his SR below 75.

Williamson offers the right balance and has not even entered the prime of his career yet.
 
Average of 47 and 49 are no doubt good, but they are not ATG level if you see the averages of the other bats in this era.

I am confident Williamson will average above 50 in Tests by the end of his career. Even YK did not touch the 50 average until 2007 when he was 30 years old. Williamson is yet to hit the prime of his career but given his technique and style - he has everything to become an ATG.

I agree it will be harder in ODI's but an average of 47 is up there. Keep in mind he already averages more than Smith. IMO - an ODi average above 45 is required to be a great.

Also - do not let Babar's ODI form fool you into thinking that that should be the standard for ATG's in ODI's. His average of 58 is grossly inflated due to us playing some poor opponents recently and his own purple patch. It will soon come down but no shame in that. Even if he averages 45 at a SR of 85-90, it will still be a stellar career by any standards.
 
He is incompetent at one format, good at one and exceptional in a third.

That's not even Glenn Maxwell territory.

How is he incompetent in T20's.

Has a decent average and his SR is also acceptable considering he plays the anchor role for NZ.
 
Lol at "FAB 4".... it is more like FAB 2 with Kohli and Smith being the only two who could be really considered "FAB"


Kane and Root will not even go down as ATG.

Also - Root averages 50+ in Tests and ODI's now... :danish
 
If u read my posts you might have realized I think all these guys are too slow and selfish. Kohli is just better than the rest and so still has great results overall.

blind slogging losing won matches is selfish too. Your solution is slog every ball blindly which is laughable. In t20 100s are NOT required to win a match. A blind slogger will score a 100 every 20 match and lose the rest. Kohli will win you 10 matches out of 20
Of course you definitely know better than some of the finest batsmen with your solution being? SLOG every ball.

In t20 strike rates are worshipped and not averages and not out. But somehow these batsmen are being selfish? Unless you have to chase over 200, every single batsman you named will be better than gayle or afridi( without his bowling) and more likely to win you matches
 
Kohli is more than capable. He's the GOAT T20 batsman in my opinion (for whatever that's worth).

It often has to do with other circumstances if you look at his career. Whether it's the openers taking up overs in front of him (fewer balls to work with) or a chase finishing with him not out.

And as an opener he's only had six matches to work with so far.
 
All these people saying fab 4 batsman taking their time at the start is selfiesh. You people dont know anything about cricket. Even in t20 one batsman has to score consistently and others play around him . Avg is also important in t20s. These fab 4 can alter their game according to the pitch and match situation . See Root's 83 vs sa
 
blind slogging losing won matches is selfish too. Your solution is slog every ball blindly which is laughable. In t20 100s are NOT required to win a match. A blind slogger will score a 100 every 20 match and lose the rest. Kohli will win you 10 matches out of 20
Of course you definitely know better than some of the finest batsmen with your solution being? SLOG every ball.

In t20 strike rates are worshipped and not averages and not out. But somehow these batsmen are being selfish? Unless you have to chase over 200, every single batsman you named will be better than gayle or afridi( without his bowling) and more likely to win you matches

If you think Kane Williamson is a better T20 player you need your head examined.

And attacking is what wins T20s not tuk-tuk of the sort these losers did.

I analyzed Smith's batting. Last 11 games he has lost 4 games for his side and won 0. No response.

I didn't say 'slog every ball', that's an invention of yours, but players need to bat hyper-attackingly, and these players you mention are not finest batsmen in T20...

Even Kohli lost his side many matches in Last IPL which is why his side was near bottom. Smith's team made finals only because of the slogging of Rahul Tripathi and Ben Stokes.
 
All these people saying fab 4 batsman taking their time at the start is selfiesh. You people dont know anything about cricket. Even in t20 one batsman has to score consistently and others play around him . Avg is also important in t20s. These fab 4 can alter their game according to the pitch and match situation . See Root's 83 vs sa

This is what's wrong with the forum.

Instead of just bleating same line like a sheep, why don't you respond to my post? I analyzed Smith's batting. Last 11 games he played he's done nothing useful. But you can keep repeating consistently,,etc and such nonsense when we are just discussing a guy who is failing again and again. And you call his match-losing innings as brilliant. Just shows you don't understand cricket.
 
How is he incompetent in T20's.

Has a decent average and his SR is also acceptable considering he plays the anchor role for NZ.

The 'anchor' does exactly what it sounds like. Weigh you down.

Kane's SR is barely above the level where it would be better for him to be out for a 1st ball duck.

120 is the bare minimum acceptable SR. And he averages 30 at that. Any number of batsman can perform this role. What is special baout it?
 
I think Smith and Kohli are capable t20 batsman but they should try to play at a faster pace in intial stages of their innings. Having said that no power hitter strike is 200 as people are saying on this forum. Even Gayle strike rate is 148. Kohli and Smith have strike of 130 with greater consistency and perform better in pressure situations
 
Guptill is phenomental striker of the ball and a great FTB - however he is not as consistent as Williamson and is fully able to take advantage of the PP.

Ross Taylor is a fine batsman himself and had great consistency throughout his career. However, he bats too slowly for my liking - too often do I see his SR below 75.

Williamson offers the right balance and has not even entered the prime of his career yet.
I've watched most of their careers. IMO Kane is definitely behind Guptill, Taylor and McCullum.

No question.

Kane isn't a match winner in LOI's, he's an anchor.
 
If you think Kane Williamson is a better T20 player you need your head examined.

And attacking is what wins T20s not tuk-tuk of the sort these losers did.

I analyzed Smith's batting. Last 11 games he has lost 4 games for his side and won 0. No response.

I didn't say 'slog every ball', that's an invention of yours, but players need to bat hyper-attackingly, and these players you mention are not finest batsmen in T20...

Even Kohli lost his side many matches in Last IPL which is why his side was near bottom. Smith's team made finals only because of the slogging of Rahul Tripathi and Ben Stokes.
Kane is a rubbish T20 batsmen, I swear he's lost us more matches than he's won.

I'm 100% with you on the Kane's SR, he takes an age to get up to a below par level. He usually strikes it at less than 100 before hitting a few boundaries after 30(30) to get it 120-130 and gets out in the process. Usually by then the game is over with the RR at 13+.
 
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If Kohli opens regularly in T20Is, he will get many hundreds. He got 4 in one IPL season.

He can get even at 3. I don't think it is too tough even there and Kohli has enough attacking capability for the given requirement.
 
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