At this point, Virat Kohli is not part of Fab Four anymore: Aakash Chopra's huge claim on ex-India captain

Former India opener Aakash Chopra has said that based on his current form,Virat Kohli doesn’t belong to Fab Four anymore, a quartet that includes Joe Root, Kane Williamson and Steve Smith. These stalwarts have excelled in Tests, particularly in the past decade.However, with Virat going through a lean patch since 2020, which also saw a dip in his average under 50 for the first time in many years, Aakash feels the former India captain is running behind.

As things stand, Kane Williamson is sidelined due to a leg injury he suffered in IPL 2023 opener against Chennai Super Kings, while both Root and Smith are playing in the Ashes – wherein both have notched a hundred in two Tests played. Virat, on the other hand, is preparing for the West Indies series, having last scored a hundred in Tests in March early this year.

Since 2020, Virat has not been among runs, let alone hitting centuries at will the way he used to do before. During India’s first Pink-Ball Test against Bangladesh in 2019, Virat hit a hundred at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, and it tookthe chase maestro around three years to complete his next three-digit score in international cricket.

Since completing that hundred in November 2019, Virat averages nearly 26 in Tests and has looked out of touch on most occasions.

Speaking on the same lines on his YouTube channel, Aakash said much like Kohli, David Warner, a veteran batter, is also going through the same patch,having attained a poor record against England’s Stuart Broad, getting out to him for the record 17th time.

Chopra said Virat, in current form, is out of Fab 4; as a result, it is now just Fab 3.

“Kane and Joe Root, no question about it. Steve Smith, averaging 50 with six hundreds, no question about him. But David Warner and Virat Kohli, at this point in time, are not a part of Fab 4. There’s no Fab 4 right now, there’s Fab 3," Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

Babar Azam not far from entering the Fab 4 group: Chopra

Aakash further opined that the way Babar Azam is going about scoring runs on a consistent basis in international cricket, the time is not far when he would be considered among the top four batters in all formats.

“You might think of adding Babar Azam’s name in there. But while there’s no doubt that he has scored runs in Test cricket, I don’t think he is part of Fab 4 at the moment. I’m only talking about Test matches here," Aakash added.

WATCH WION LIVE HERE: