Babar Azam in bottom half, Virat Kohli the opposite in Marnus Labuschagne's ranking of best Test batters

Of late, Test Cricket has lost some ground to T20 cricket. But the longest version of the game, still remains the pinnacle for majority of the players. In the last few years, after the retirement of greats like Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis Alastair Cook, Shivanarine Chanderpaul, Brian Lara, Rahul Dravid and Kumar Sangakkara, the void in Test batting standards has been filled by modern-day greats. The likes of Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Kane Williamson, Babar Azam have filled in the big shoes of their predecessors.

Root, Virat, Smith and Williamson, popularly referred to as the fab four have great average in Test cricket. In fact, all of them average near fifty, the lowest being Virat currently on 49.53 due to the recent dip in his form. Smith boasts a whopping average of 60 while both Williamson and Root average 50-plus.

Nevertheless, all the four batters are class apart and have performed great against pretty much every Test-playing nation. Together they have registered more than a hundred centuries in Test cricket alone. Joining the fab four, Babar Azam has sharply risen through the ranks and is doing exceptionally well in all formats of cricket, including Test cricket. But the debate of ranking these five as top modern day Test greats, throws even the experienced cricket experts into a tizzy.

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Australia Test cricketer, Marnus Labuschagne has dared to answer the question of ranking top modern day Test batsmen. In an interview to News9, the Australian batter, who himself is quite a class and currently the second-ranked batter in ICC Test rankings behind Joe Root, was asked to rank Virat, Smith, Williamson, Babar and Root.

There was no surprise as Labuschagne chose Smith, whom he considers his ideal as the top among the greats.

"Steve Smith. I will go with Virat next. Joe Root three, his record in red ball and for someone who has done it for so long in different condtions, he has a great record in the sub-continent, plays well in England. Babar and Kane then. It is a tough list. In Test cricket, it is tight, at least the top two are".