Five batsmen who can join the 'Big 4' in ODIs

Over the years, cricket has been fortunate enough to witness players take the world by storm. There have been players who have hunted in packs and performed exceedingly well together. Be it the famous West Indian pace quartet, the Indian spin quartet (Prasanna, Venkatraghavan, Chandrashekhar, Bishan Singh Bedi), the Fab 4 of India (Dravid, Sachin, Laxman, Ganguly), the deadly duo of Wasim-Waqar, the fearsome Lillie-Marsh duo or Viv Richards and Clive Lloyd's opening pairing; each of these partnerships played a significant role in cricketing history.

But today, the ‘Big 4’ or the ‘Fab 4’ of world cricket (Kohli, Smith, Root and Williamson) are from different countries. Incidentally, each of them leads their respective countries – Kohli, Smith and Williamson captain in all formats and Root leads England in Tests. They have been magnificent for the last 2-3 years and their dominance in all formats has left everyone awestruck.

Apart from these four, there have been a few players who have been very consistent in the recent past. These players can join the ‘Big 4’ to form a bigger pool, especially in ODIs. Let’s look at 5 players who can join the ‘Big 4’ in the near future.

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#5 Martin Guptill

Martin Guptill is a swashbuckling, hard-hitting batsman. The flamboyant opener has always done well in the 50-over format and is one of the batting mainstays of New Zealand today.

Guptill formed a dominating opening pairing with Brendon McCullum, but since the latter's retirement in early 2016, Guptill has taken the extra responsibility of not only giving his side brisk starts, but also batting through the innings. Guptill has been brilliant ever since the start of 2015. He has amassed more than 2500 runs in 56 games, scoring seven hundreds in the process, including a blistering 237 in the 2015 World Cup quarter-final. His strike-rate has always been in the high 90s.

New Zealand’s batting largely revolves around the right-hander and skipper Williamson. In the recent past, Guptill has time and again shown why he is one of the most destructive batsmen in the world at the moment.

#4 Quinton de Kock

Quinton de Kock in action for South Africa

Quinton de Kock has the ability to take the attack to the opposition and is a genuine match-winner for South Africa.

With AB de Villiers giving up the wicket-keeping gloves, de Kock came into prominence after scoring three centuries in three ODIs against India in late 2013. Since then, he has become a permanent member of the South African line-up. His consistency at the top of the order has been brilliant. At 24, de Kock has already scored 12 ODI hundreds (youngest player to do so). He has scored more than 3500 at an average of 43.44 with a superb strike-rate of almost 94.

His ability to strike the ball and stunning glove-work have already earned him comparisons to greats such as Adam Gilchrist and Mark Boucher. His consistent exploits with the bat, and behind the stumps, have brought him a long way and he definitely has the ability to join the ‘Big 4’.

#3 Babar Azam

Babar Azam has been compared to Virat Kohli recently

A right-handed top order batsman who is known for his discipline, Babar Azam has carried Pakistan’s batting over the last couple of years.

Babar scored his first ODI ton in his 16th innings. But what followed in the next 15 innings was simply sensational. By the 25th innings, he had 5 tons to his name and since scoring that first ODI hundred, Azam has been dismissed for single-digits only once. In his 31-match ODI career thus far, he is averaging 53.89 with a healthy strike-rate of 88.56.

In the last two years, Pakistan’s batting has revolved around Azam. Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur even went on to say that Babar is as good as Virat Kohli. The Pakistan No. 3 is just 22 years old and can be his side's batting mainstay for quite some time.

#2 David Warner

Warner loves scoring hundreds and also celebrating in style

David Warner is Australia’s vice-captain and one of the most destructive batsmen in modern-day cricket. His aggressive nature is one of his biggest strengths.

One of the hardest hitters of the cricket ball, Warner has displayed great consistency in the 50-over format in the last three years. He has averaged over 50 in each of the last three years (54.33, 63.09 and 58.88 in 2015, 2016 and 2017 respectively). Adding to this, the rate at which he scores i.e. his strike-rate has remained over 100 in the last three years. Out of his 13 One-Day International centuries, nine have come since the beginning of 2016.

Australia rely heavily on Warner to give them a good start, especially in ODIs. He remains one of their key members and has displayed superb consistency in the last few years.

#1 Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma has the capability of scoring big, daddy hundreds

Rohit Sharma oozes talent. He is one of the most stylish batsmen India have ever produced. He has so much time to play his shots; he caresses the ball and his timing is impeccable. India have never been starved of batting talent, but there is something different and unique about Rohit. When in full flow, he makes batting look ridiculously easy and possesses lazy elegance.

Rohit's career was at a crossroads, at which time he was made to open the innings, in 2013, and his career has changed drastically since then. Opening the innings, he has scored 3798 runs in 79 innings at a superb average of 53.49. He is the only batsman in cricket history to score two ODI double hundreds. One of the best aspects of his batting is that he looks to convert his starts into hundreds, and hundreds into daddy hundreds.

Rohit finally seems to be doing justice to his talent, at least in limited-overs cricket.