World Cup 2019: Rating the performances of Fab 4 in the tournament
In the current era, Steven Smith (Australia), Virat Kohli (India), Joe Root (England), and Kane Williamson (New Zealand) are collectively known as ‘Fab 4’. The quartet's dominance in both the ODIs and Tests have separated them from the rest of the cricketers. Hence, there were massive expectations on them before the start of World Cup 2019.
Virat Kohli, the Indian skipper, entered the tournament as the No.1 batsman in the ODIs. For Steven Smith, the World Cup was his first International assignment since the infamous 'Sandpaper' incident.
Joe Root was expected to complement the aggressive nature of other England batsmen and anchor the innings. Meanwhile, Kane Williamson and his men once again went into an ICC tournament with the tag of underdogs.
With the tournament over now, let us look at how these players have fared in this year's World Cup.
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#1 Steven Smith – (7.75/10)
With a century against England in the warm-up game before the World Cup, Steven Smith set the tone for himself for the tournament. He was expected to continue his excellent run in the World Cup.
Since the Australian openers did the bulk of the damage in their opening encounter against Afghanistan, Smith had very little time in the middle. Nevertheless, he scored three half-centuries in his next four matches. In particular, his fighting knock of 73 against West Indies rescued Australia from a batting collapse.
Smith suffered a dip in form towards the end of the league stage. He shrugged off his poor form by once again rescuing Australia from a batting collapse in the semi-final. His rescue knock of 85 helped Australia to post a target of 224. However, the Englishmen quickly chased down the target in 32.1 overs.
Overall, Smith scored 379 runs in his ten innings with four half-centuries. Besides that, he claimed one wicket in his four overs of bowling. It is fair to say that Smith had an average World Cup 2019 campaign.