The game of cricket aligns toward batters rather than bowlers. The transition from one to two new balls, from huge to small boundaries, and from small to giant bats has been gradual but significant. Cricket has become increasingly skewed towards the batters as T20 leagues are on the rise.
1. Virat Kohli
One of the critical reasons India has developed as the team to beat in all formats is the passion and contagious energy he brings to the table. He played 437 times for India and amassed 22917 runs, including 115 fifties and 70 centuries. In all forms of the game, Kohli is the only batsman to average over 50. Among the active players, he has the highest run totals in T20Is and ODIs.
2. Kane Williamson
He has 15209 runs under his belt after 303 appearances for the Kiwis, with 85 fifty-pluses and 37 centuries. He is a batsman in the present era who fits an entirely different template. He is the best illustration of how one may excel in international cricket without having tremendous strength to hit every ball out of the ground. He is a batsman for all situations since he can play spin and against swing, seam, pace, and bounce. He is the top-ranked Test batsman primarily because of this.
3. David Warner
He has played 295 times for Australia, scoring 15031 runs, including 71 fifty-pluses and 43 centuries. He has won the orange cap three times, making him the model of consistency in T20 cricket, particularly the IPL. He now leads Australia in runs scored in ODIs. Controversy had always surrounded him, whether when he punched Joe Root following a bar fight or when he was the alleged mastermind behind the sandpaper affair.
4. Babar Azam
He has played 178 times for Pakistan and amassed 8389 runs, including 53 fifties and 20 centuries. He now holds the top two spots in both the ICC ODI and T20I rankings. Babar is currently in a position where he can win games for Pakistan by himself.
5. Joe Root
He has played in more than 100 Test matches while being only 30 years old. He ranks second to Sir Alastair Cook in terms of Test run totals. He has played 291 times for England and has scored 15889 runs, including 90 fifty-pluses and 37 hundred. The only batter who has demonstrated fortitude by continuously scoring runs and putting the opposition on the back foot is the England Test skipper. He was a skilled T20I player as well, but fierce competition prevented him from making the team. At No. 3, he is England's rock and has averaged at least 50 runs per ODI over the previous four calendar years.
6. Quinton de Kock
Even though he appears to be a teenager, he is an assassin behind the stumps and with the bat. He has played 231 times for South Africa, scoring 10205 runs, including 57 fifty-pluses and 22 centuries. He has developed relatively well over time and is aware of the importance of his wicket to the opposition. His attacking style of play has been his greatest asset.
7. Steve Smith
He has played 250 times for Australia and has 12712 runs, including 60 fifty-pluses and 38 centuries. In Test cricket, he averages a stunning 61.80, which places him second only to the legendary Sir Don Bradman. He has always been Australia's go-to man in times of crisis, even though he hasn't had the same effect in white-ball cricket. Due to the South African sandpaper scandal—likely his lowest period—the former captain was suspended for a year. But in the 2019 Ashes series, he returned with a bang and destroyed the England bowlers.
8. Rohit Sharma
He has played 379 times for India and has amassed 14879 runs, including 78 fifty runs and 40 centuries. In all formats during the past two years, the Indian vice-captain has been India's top batsman. In T20Is, he has hit the second-most sixes (133), along with the most centuries (four). The Hitman has also endured the most challenging test conditions abroad, but he has not been able to turn many of those starts into the kind of ODI daddy hundreds he enjoys.
9. Aaron Finch
He was appointed captain at the worst period in Australian cricket history, the sandpaper scandal of 2018. He has played 213 times for Australia, scoring 7983 runs, including 46 fifty-pluses and 19 hundred. He has the most runs scored for Australia in T20 Internationals. When playing Zimbabwe in Harare, he set the record for the highest individual T20I score with 172 runs off 76 balls.
10. Jos Butler
He may be England's all-time best cricket ball batter in terms of accuracy. In the English batting order, he is the essential player. He has played 282 times for England and amassed 8488 runs, including 52 fifty-run innings and 11 centuries. In T20Is, he is England's most reliable batsman, and in ODIs, he also has the most significant strike rate. He is one of the top limited-overs batsmen in the world, thanks to his effortless ability to score everywhere on the pitch.
