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'All-rounder Ashwin and the four top batsmen'

Way back in the 1980s there were four of the greatest all rounders who have graced the game. Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Ian Botham and Richard Hadlee. They came to the fore primarily as new ball bowlers but over a period of time polished their batting to such a tremendous extent that they won games for their countries with the bat too.

An all rounder is one who is capable of getting into the team either as a batsman or as a bowler. Today Ravichandran Ashwin is a player who can get into the Indian team as a batsman even if he was not a bowler and as a bowler even if he couldn’t survive two deliveries as a batsman. The above four were intensely competitive at all times but became even more so if they found that one of them had done well in a game. That would be just the energiser that the other would need to lift his game and perform and show that he too was as good if not better than the one who had performed in the previous game. Their rivalry helped their teams as none of them wanted to take a backward step and concede that the other was better. Of course a lot of their performances also depended on their team mates for if their teammates did not lift their game then whatever these greats did was not always enough to ensure a win for their country.

Today the cricketing world is blessed to witness four of the top batsmen in the world who are wowing with their range of shots and the versatility of their stroke play. Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Steve Smith and Joe Root are all middle order batsmen who lead by example and are taking batting to another level altogether with the shots that they execute. There is also Kane Williamson who is not too far away but these four are clearly the best in their teams and would walk into any Test team in the world. They may not admit it but when one of them gets a big score it galvanises the others into getting a big one too. It was therefore no surprise that when Virat Kohli scored his first Test double century, Joe Root wasn't too far behind in getting one himself. While Kohli got out at exactly 200 Root went on to get 254 and then followed it up with 71 in the second innings to make up for his tame dismissals in the first Test against the visiting Pakistani team. England won the Test and the series is now tantalisingly poised. Alastair Cook also joined in the fun with his 29th Test century.

However it is Joe Root for his exceptional batting in both innings of the second Test who wins the accolade of the CEAT International Cricketer of the Week.

Source: PMG



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