5 reasons why Steve Smith is the best Test batsman amongst the 'Fab Four'

#2 Batting record as a captain

After Michael Clarke's recurring injuries forced him to hang up his boots, there was a nervousness in the Australian camp as to who'd be their next leader. Eyebrows were raised at the selector's choice to elevate Smith to the hot seat. The choice seemed more so appalling given that he had just begun to find his feet in the international arena, and an important series against India was on the horizon.

After MS Dhoni retired midway through the series, India had a new captain in Virat Kohli. He won plaudits both home and down under for his brave captaincy and his will to win at all costs. On the other hand, Smith quietly went at his job registering a series win in his first assignment.

While Kohli scored three centuries in his first three innings as captain, Steve scored three in his first five. Virat finished the series with 682 runs at an average of 86.50 which paled in comparison with Smith's 769 at an average of 128. People were still apprehensive about his appointment as captain as they felt it would be too much on such young shoulders, and they felt that he would suffer a dip in form, a la Sachin Tendulkar or Brian Lara. However, Smith had those leadership qualities in him since a young age.

Having gone on to score 2971 runs as the Test captain at a staggering average of more than 72 inclusive of thirteen centuries and three double centuries, Smith has been on the top of ICC batting rankings continuously for more than two years now.

Since Joe Root and Kane Williamson have quite recently gotten a taste of captaincy among the four, his battle to gain supremacy has been against Kohli. Although Virat has a better captaincy record than Smudge with 21 wins in 35 matches suffering 8 losses, Smith has enjoyed success in 17 out of the 32 tests played.

It can be argued that out of the 12 series India have played under Virat, 6 of them have been against the likes of Sri Lanka, Windies and Bangladesh, while out of the 13 played by Australia under Smith, only 3 have come against the relative minnows. The borderline being that Virat still manages to have a thin edge over Smith if captaincy record is the parameter, however, Steve still has the upper hand if batting records are compared.