Smith, Williamson, Root, Kohli: Rating the performances of the Big Four in the T20 World Cup 2016

For the last couple of years, cricket fans have watched with fascination a four-horse race that has emerged among the people tagged as the “future of cricket”. Intensely gifted and passionate cricketers in the form of Steve Smith, Kane Williamson, Joe Root and Virat Kohli have already set the cricketing world ablaze with stellar performances at a mind-boggling consistency.

Though distinctly different with their own styles, the big four of the next generation have one point of similarity between them. None of them are the mindless sloggers who were initially expected to dominate T20 cricket.

All four are in fact classical batsmen more fond of manoeuvring the ball into gaps; playing and improvising upon textbook cricketing shots. Yet they have managed to accumulate incredible strike-rates and have shown the world that it is the best batsmen who dominate T20 cricket.

All four of them are consistent across all three formats of the game and have their respective teams heavily relying on them already. So, were they able to fulfil the expectations on them and how did they fare in the all-important T20 World Cup? Let us have a look.

Steve Smith

Steve Smith livid after being given out against India.

Australia led by Steve Smith had come into the tournament hoping to win a trophy that they have never won. Yet it was not to be. The hurdle remains unconquered for Australia as they faltered yet again and crashed out of the tournament after losing to India in their final group match.

One of the reasons why Australia failed to progress was because some of their key batsmen did not do enough. Vice-captain David Warner was in horrendous form while Glenn Maxwell failed to produce the fireworks.

Not least among these disappointing causes was the form of their captain Steve Smith. Smith seemed to be in good knick and striking the ball well but failed to produce the goods when it was most required.

Against Pakistan, Smith was the architect-in-chief as he scored a splendid 43-ball 61 to power Australia to an imposing 193. But he did precious little in the other three matches coming away with scores of 6, 14 and 2. Smith scored 83 runs from his 4 matches at an average of 27.66. Clearly not what you expect from a player like him.

Verdict: His lowest points in the tournament came when he was foxed by Mustafizur Rahman to be bowled round his legs followed by another failure against India as he fell cheaply to Yuvraj Singh. For Australia to do better, a more sound contribution was needed from their skipper. Smith failed to inspire his team unlike what Kohli or Root did in the tournament.

Rating: 4.5/10