Joe Root continues to receive praise after leading England to win in the first Test against New Zealand by recording his 26th Test century and becoming only the second player from his country to reach 10,000 runs in the longest format, the other one being Alastair Cook.

Root, along with former India captain Virat Kohli, former Australia skipper Steve Smith, and New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, has long been considered part of the 'Fab 4'. While Kohli continues to lead in terms of international centuries and runs scored, the former India selector Saba Karim claims that Root has surpassed the other three players in Test cricket.

"He has gone far ahead. Joe Root has left the other three batters far behind in the last two years. Whether we talk about consistency, technique, or temperament, in all these aspects Joe Root is above everyone at the moment," Karim said on India News Sports.

Kohli hasn't struck an international century in almost three years, and Smith hasn't scored an international century since January 2021. Due to a slew of injuries, Williamson's Test appearances have decreased throughout this time.

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The English cricketer has scored 2192 runs, including nine centuries, in white jersey since January 2021. The other three members of the ‘fab 4’ have not scored any centuries in this period and scored a combined 1460 Test runs. 

Karim pointed out that Root is frequently the lone wolf in England's unstable batting order, with new Test captain Ben Stokes the only one who has shown any consistency in the past two years. Meanwhile, the remaining members of the Fab 4 were always accompanied by other batters.

"And we are not discussing one more thing, that if we see England's batting, other than Root, we are not seeing any other name coming to the forefront. It means Joe Root has single-handedly scored runs and hit centuries, he has not got any support from the other end. If we talk about India, along with Virat Kohli we have Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant, Ajinkya Rahane, and many other batters who have scored runs at the international level and supported him.

“The same is the case with New Zealand and Australia. Whether it is Indian conditions or Sri Lanka or England, this player (Root) has won matches on his own or has scored centuries. So the importance of that is even greater,” said Karim.

(India News Sports Inputs)