Some good points raised by you here regarding Cook. Some points raised for Root does not stand up when you look.
Sanga/Kallis did not get to play long series like Root so regularly. SL/SA got many shorter series. Root gets lots of long series and yet he has zero big series. Dravid had many big series with more than 1 tons and ponting went big in SA.
Since Root debuted, Eng has played series like this. NZ is only exception for short series for Root. Let's ignore NZ, but
After Debute, Root has long serieses like this.
2013 in Aus - 5 tests
2015 in SA - 4 tests
2016 in Ind - 5 tests
2017 in Aus - 5 tests
2019 in SA - 4 tests
2020 in Ind - 4 tests
2021 in Aus - 5 tests
2023 in Ind - 5 tests
Let's ignore lack of no series with more than one ton by Root. You can simply see how many times he has gone big to begin with in individual tests.
I don't think it should be brushed by saying that it's hard to score.
Yes, SA, Ind, Aus and Eng all had many bowlers with avg below 25 in this period so it has been hard to score in those places for visitors. But no one has gotten more oppurtunity. See below, this include the period when Root is supposed to be the best bastman for 5 years period.
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4 tons in 35-40 tests, that's just ridiculously low for supposedly the best batsman for 5 years.
Has Root done anything of note to leave a mark of ATG batsman. Surely not away. You said that his career is ATG at home. I beg to differ. Root has been ordinary against Aus and SA both at home. Averaging 43 in 27 tests with 5 tons. Nothing great about it.
Yes, he had performed against India. Even against India, just one series where he scored really big when India had good bowling. In 2018 series he averaged 35 at home against India and before that India had really poor bowling.
So clearly, it's bit of a stretch but we can make a case for home.
But when all said and done, 2-3 good series against good bowling unit in career with 150-160 tests, that's too little for greatness.
I note your point about Cook being ordinary against Aus and SA at home. I think Eng media has overhyped Root and under rated players like Cook. I don't want to put up away tons by Dravid, Sangha or Ponting here because they played in different era and they had far more tons. Let's keep it for Root's era. He seems to be struggling big time when it comes to going big in tough tours. Be it individual tests or series. How do you actually measure greatness, XYZ avg > ABC avg?? I think that's lazy way to rate players.
I am not saying that Cook is surely a better than Root, but I could see a case for rating Cook above due to being an opener despite him averaging 3-4 points less in career specially given he stepped up in few tough tours. If Root can score in few tough tours then sure, it's just one way decision. But if Root finishes his career without ever getting a big series ands output like 4 tons in 40 tests in Ind,Aus, SA then I don't think it's so simple to rate Root above Cook.
It's all academic right now, so let's see how Root does in next series in Aus.
Kallis for one had three opportunities for example in
1998 in England — 5 matches
2000 in West Indies — 5 matches
Basil D Oliveira 2008 — 4 matches
even more importantly, I think this just gives us another caveat, for example earlier this year Root had a hundred in India and next game he had an 84, I don't realy personally believe his Batsmenship would be amplified massively if he scored 102 instead of 84 because at the end of the day a hundred is just an arbitrary number, impact is the most important metric and I can remember more great work from Root in India/South Africa and Newzealand then I can remember from Sangakkara...anywhere?
Sangakkara for example, has 2 hundreds in 22 innings in England, and it's not like he hasn't tourned England enough, he has more matches in England than Root does in South Africa and it's not like England was extremely difficult in 2000s...unlike modern south Africa which is extremely difficult to score in, he has played as much as Root in South Africa but has same amount of tons and averages 15 points less and batted on South African pitches that were still somewhat decent for batting. He has nothing in the carribean. I don't think on the basis of all this that it's fair for us to just overlook Sangakkara's brilliance, same extends to Root.
a point I think should be made when you mention the Indian record of Root (3 tons) is that this is the bowling average of India throughout Root's career
stats.espncricinfo.com
this output from Indian bowlers at home, is quite literally, greater than the output from the mighty windies bowlers at home.
stats.espncricinfo.com
hell South Africa is just as low as fall as bowling averages go.
stats.espncricinfo.com
and the aussie ones don't even compete
stats.espncricinfo.com
so what I'm overall saying is, nobody should look at his South African and Indian records and think that it's a hole in his record, seriously if someone in 80s west indies averaged 45 with three tons while playing as an all rounder and averaged 50 in the Australia of 2000s, would anyone really think that averaging 45/50 against them is bad or a hole in a record? I think you substantially underestimate how much more difficult scoring has been post 2015 away from home.
I don't really think there is much argument for him being best post-COVID?
other than averaging 45/50 against attacks I showed you have insane output at home, here are his great tours at home.
2014 Pataudi trophy
2015 Ashes
Basil D Oliveira trophy 2017
2021 Pataudi Trophy — 4 hundreds against Bumrah
2021 NZ series where he had a clutch hundred on an extremely spicy wicket
Sri Lanka series literally few months back
he did well against everyone and everything bar two serieses. averaged 50+ in 2023 Ashes as well
2018 Pataudi trophy
2019 Ashes
Basil D Oliveira 2022
he manages 35-40 average in the first two but mostly the preassure of captaincy is what got to him, he was in the downperiod of his career
Over the last couple of years or so, England's captain has not quite kept pace with Smith, Kohli and Williamson
www-espncricinfo-com.cdn.ampproject.org
and the 2022 Basil D Oliveira is just 4 innings, not enough to be taken seriously to me as a critique.
other than that he literally averages 55 in England... against dukes with a nothing top order and under immense presssure, I don't really know what you exactly want him to do more lol, his ashes record could be better but he averages 50+ in two series and in one he was 21-22 so I don't mind, he has brutalized India, his record against SA isn't great but he has a great series, his record against everyone else is amazing, don't really know how he isn't an absolute top level ATG at home
and now for how I measure greatness, I don't think the English media overhyped Root, if anything they're brutal to him for his away ashes record, to me the measurement of greatness is done by seeing their competency against certain types of bowling and batting and their performance in certain countries.
Swing/Seam Bowling — This can be seen by the performances in England and West Indies against Dukes which have extremely exaggerated movement on average, and performance in New Zealand where the ball swings albeit not to the same extent. If one does extremely well in England and fails in New Zealand I'd rate that player extremely highly against pace as the ball swings substantially more in England and for much longer. if one is failiure in England but successful in New Zealand I think their output against swing is questionable deeply and mostly downright fraudulent considering New Zealand stops moving after the new ball.
Bounce/Pace bowling — Performances in Australia and South Africa, in Australia the ball gains pace from the pitch but the bounce is always awkward and high, and a swing legend would not be successful in Australia as shown by Root and Dravid and so many English batters, south Africa has even more sideways movement and has both awkward high bounce and disgustingly low bounce making the bounce variable, if one performs in Australia but fails in South Africa I think he struggles with variable bounce and his output against it is flawed, if one performs in South Africa but struggles in Australia I think his game against high bounce is flawed. South Africa also has much more sideways movement so it's harder to score there than in Australia and I rate runs there higher. Australia was also ultra flat in 2000s
Spin — India and Sri Lanka, sometimes UAE has slow turners but was mostly flat, Sri Lanka has been rank turner Galore since Murali but India after 2011 has reverted more to it's traditional spinning wickets, I don't think there is much difference between the pitches in India and Sri Lanka but I rate runs against Lanka in 2000s much higher as India was flat as hell those days and Sri Lanka had Murali, while these days I rate runs against India more due to Ashwin and Jadeja.
that's my basic criteria, now, obviously closer analysis is better for everything but that should give you a general idea. for example, Dravid averages 52 and Sangakkara 57 but I have IVA Richards with a 50 average as the best Batsmen after the second world war, or how Kane Williamson averages 55(?) but I think Martin Crowe averaging 45 was a finer Batsmen because I saw him prove himself against more and better bowling. so forth.
anyway, we'll see if he gets big serieses, if he does he's top ten, if he doesn't then top 20.