Cricket News: Why do fab-4 need to prove their worth again before next year's ODI World Cup?

His prediction could not have been more right, as these four went on to dominate the cricketing world. The best player from the best teams in the world!

Since 2014 these players have been known for their consistency and match-winning innings. In a short period, they created many records and became their team's strongest backbone. Virat Kohli averaged 57.68 in his career of 14 years to accumulate 12344 runs, Steven Smith and Kane Williamson averaged 43.29 and 47.48 in 12 years to fetch 4459 and 6173 runs, respectively. At the same time, in 9 years, Joe Root scored 6120 runs at an average of 50.16. 

There came a time when they went out of the form but were back in quick time. Despite scoring and accumulating a wealth of runs, the 'Fab 4' has been struggling in the past two years. The calendar year of 2022 has seen Virat Kohli's average fall to 21.7, Kane Williamson at 22, Steven Smith to 40.60 and Joe Root at 3.66 in ODIs. While Joe Root had the best of his years in the red-ball format in the past two years, the batter struggled immensely in the white-ball format. In the last two years, only Steven Smith has scored three centuries in ODIs. Rest, no one has been able to score any century. 

The next one-day international World Cup is in 2023. The cricket boards of these four countries are already in action with many decisions, from resting to rotation policy and scheduled tours. The Fab 4 are given chances to help them get back their spark. But with the pool of talents all these countries have, it won't be surprising to see some harsh steps in selecting the world cup. 

India is already experimenting with many players in different series, while England is giving back-to-back games to Joe Root because of his touch in red-ball cricket. Kane Williamson has been deprived of playing ODIs for quite a long time, and the Australia Cricket board is doing all they can to get their star player, Steven Smith, in the form he used to be before next year's world cup.

The Fab 4 are the players for the big games and big moments. They have managed to take the match single-handedly several times, and for all these reasons, no matter how much out of form they look today, teams cannot exclude them that easily. However, a consistent failed performance won't stop boards from taking some decisions against them.