The international circuit has entered a new era of batters, and it’s no longer just about the Fab Four. Mohammad Rizwan, Rassie van der Dussen, and Marnus Labuschagne have all made their mark in the last two years, breaking numerous records in the process. Let’s take a look at a few of the batters to keep an eye on in the future and the achievements they’ve accomplished thus far.
Marnus Labuschagne: The best of Test cricket
In the second innings of the match on August 18, 2019, Australian batter Steve Smith was hit by a lethal bouncer from England’s Jofra Archer. On the fifth day of the second Ashes Test match, after Smith suffered from a concussion, the Australian team swiftly replaced him with South Africa-born Marnus Labuschagne.
Labuschagne became the first concussion substitute player in a Test match following the substitution, thanks to a revision in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) regulations. After a stellar performance in the Ashes, the all-rounder firmly established himself in the playing XI. Since then, he is a regular in the Australian Test side and has continued to impress and assisted Australia in retaining the Ashes Urn.
Currently the top-ranked batter in Tests, he has so far amassed 2220 runs at a mind-boggling average of 56.92. He has also amassed six centuries and has 12 fifties to his credit. What’s more impressive is that the majority of his runs have come up against higher-ranked teams. He’s been a pain to get out for England and New Zealand, and he’ll have to be at his best if Australia are to qualify for the World Test Championship Final.
Rassie van der Dussen: Record breaker in ODIs
We experienced RVD’s ability in the recently concluded India series, as he only got out once while scoring 218 runs with a strike rate of 112.95 in just three matches. RVD has consistently performed well since his debut but remained under the shadows of ABD and Faf du Plessis.
Currently ranked number 10 in the ICC ODI rankings for batters, van der Dussen’s ODI career has had a dream start as he has amassed 1267 runs at a scarcely-believable average of 74.53. While this is a remarkable statistic, no male player with 20 or more ODI innings has ever averaged greater than that. Against both India and Pakistan, he averages above 100.
If RVD maintains his good form, he may soon be compared to his countrymen, AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis. Filling those shoes will be challenging, but the player has shown remarkable promise.
Pakistan’s T20 Royalty: Mohammad Rizwan
To give an idea of his form in 2021, Rizwan began the year with an unbeaten maiden century against South Africa, and by the end of the year, he had scored 12 half-centuries and a century, breaking the record for most T20 runs in a calendar year. In the process, he left behind his skipper, Babar Azam, who had his greatest year in T20I, and sits second on the T20I run tally with 939 runs scored at an average of 37.56.
In 2021, Rizwan also had the second-best batting average among men who scored 500 or more runs in a calendar year. India’s Virat Kohli holds the record with a batting average of 106.83 during his monstrous run in 2016. Apart from international cricket, he even conquered the PSL in 2021. He won the first PSL trophy for Multan Sultans while playing for the team. With 500 runs at 45.45, he was second only to Babar Azam (554 runs at 69.25) as the leading run-scorer.
Rizwan and Azam had a fantastic opening partnership for Pakistan, as his counter-attacking ability reduced the pressure off his captain Azam. The man knows how to manage pressure and sails through it like he did at the World Cup. It’ll be interesting to see what the future holds up for him in other formats of the game.