New Zealand batting great Kane Williamson has recently named five batters who could rule the cricketing world in the years to come like he and his peers did. Williamson along with Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and Joe Root were tagged early in their career as 'fab four' of modern batting by ex-Kiwi legend Martin Crowe. All four of them proved Crowe right and now with the original fab four at the fag end of their careers, the cricket world is searching for their replacements.
Williamson, in a recent interview to the Cricket Monthly, gave five names who have the potential to be the next all-format stars.
"The players that come to mind in terms of multi-format are: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rachin Ravindra, Harry Brook, And also Cam Green." said Williamson.
"Those are all outstanding players and have shown fantastic moments in all the formats," he added. "All young and their games are just growing."
All five of these young batters are currently still searching to find the balance across formats.
Jaiswal has had a stellar beginning to his Test career but he does not find a place in the white ball set-up of India due to the overload of talent. Gill too is not in India's T20I scheme of things due to extreme competition. His Test average of 35 after 32 Tests also leaves a lot to be desired.
Ravindra, like Gill, has lit up the ODI scene but his T20 game still needs some fine tuning. Brook is averaging 58.5 in Tests but his game in India, one of the most challenging country to tour for an overseas batter, is still not perfect.
Green is injury prone but his talent is there for all to see.
Most experts are putting their money on these five youngsters to take the baton from the current crop of great batters and keep the flag of good batting flying high.