Jasprit Bumrah became the first bowler in Test history to reach 200 wickets at an average under 20, and he did it inside seven years of his debut. That single stat tells you everything about the standard this era has set. Picking the best cricketers of the decade means wading through Ashes wins, T20 World Cup finals, and a genuine changing of the guard, and this list settles the argument with numbers, not nostalgia.
What Actually Makes a Cricketer One of the Best of the 2020s
Ranking the top cricketers of the 2020s is not just about who scores the most runs in a calendar year. It is about who kept performing across formats, under different captains, on pitches that do not favor them, against attacks that have scouted every weakness on video.
A few things separate the contenders from the pretenders this decade:
- Consistency across formats rather than a single purple patch
- Match-winning impact in ICC events, not just bilateral series
- Longevity through a genuinely chaotic period for international scheduling, with bio-bubbles, packed calendars, and franchise cricket pulling players in every direction
- Statistical dominance measured against genuine peers, not just domestic competition
With that filter in place, here is how the decade’s best batters and bowlers stack up so far.
The Batting Icons Who Ruled the 2020s
Virat Kohli
Kohli entered the decade as the most feared chaser in white-ball cricket, and while his 2020 was quiet by his own standards, he built one of the great career bodies of work around it. He sits fourth on the all-time international run charts with over 27,000 runs, and in ODI cricket alone he has scored close to 14,000 runs at an average north of 57. He led India to the 2024 T20 World Cup title as a senior player rather than captain, closing out a trophy cabinet that already included the 2011 World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy. Kohli retired from Test cricket in 2025 after a 17-year red-ball career, and even his critics admit that no batter in this generation matched his hunger for milestones.
Babar Azam
For a stretch in the middle of the decade, Babar Azam was statistically the best ODI batter alive. Between January 2020 and the end of 2023, he led the format’s run charts in the 2020s with 2,370 runs in just 42 innings at an average above 60, edging out Kohli himself in that window. He retired from Test cricket in 2025 having crossed 300 runs in the World Test Championship cycle just before stepping away. His compact technique and ability to bat through an innings made him the closest thing Pakistan has had to Kohli’s white-ball reliability since Mohammad Yousuf.
Steve Smith and Kane Williamson
Smith remains the most difficult batter in world cricket to bowl a consistent length to, thanks to that unorthodox setup that somehow still finds the middle of the bat. Williamson, meanwhile, quietly put together one of the best Test averages of any player active in this decade, sitting above 62 between 2020 and late 2024. He also led New Zealand to the inaugural World Test Championship title in 2021, a genuine landmark for a country that had spent decades chasing that kind of silverware.
Joe Root
Root has been the volume king of Test cricket this decade. Since the start of 2020, he has scored 19 of his 36 career Test centuries, a conversion rate that would have seemed unthinkable during the years he was labelled a nearly-man for turning fifties into hundreds. He has done this while England experimented with an aggressive brand of Test batting that suits some players and exposes others, and Root has adapted rather than resisted it.
The Bowlers Who Changed the Game
Batting numbers get the headlines, but this decade has arguably belonged to the bowlers more than the last one did.
Jasprit Bumrah
Bumrah’s Test average of 19.79 across 52 matches is not just good, it is historically rare for a fast bowler in the modern era. He was the Player of the Tournament when India won the 2024 T20 World Cup, taking 15 wickets in eight matches at an average of 8.26. In the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, he took 32 wickets at 13.06 before injury forced him out of the final Test, a spell of bowling that pushed him into a class of his own among current bowlers regardless of format.
Pat Cummins
Cummins has built the most decorated captaincy resume of the decade. Under him, Australia won the 2023 World Test Championship final and the 2023 ODI World Cup, and he reclaimed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India for the first time in a decade during the 2024-25 series, taking 25 wickets at 21.36 along the way. He remains a genuine strike bowler as well as a leader, which is the rarer combination.
Rashid Khan
No bowler has reshaped how franchise leagues value a single skill set quite like Rashid Khan. His googly, delivered at a pace closer to medium than traditional leg-spin, has made him a first-pick in nearly every T20 league on the planet and a nightmare matchup for right-handers in particular. He was even nominated for ESPNcricinfo’s Captain of the Year in 2024, a nod to how his influence on Afghanistan’s rise has gone well beyond his bowling figures.
Captains Who Delivered Silverware
Modern cricket legends are not just measured by personal stats, and captaincy is where this decade has been unusually competitive. Rohit Sharma has won two ICC trophies as India’s captain, the 2024 T20 World Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy, placing him third on the all-time list of most successful ICC-winning captains behind only Ricky Ponting and MS Dhoni. His batting has not slowed down either; he has three ODI double centuries to his name and remains one of the most destructive openers of the powerplay era.
Cummins, again, deserves a second mention here. Winning both a World Test Championship and an ODI World Cup inside the same calendar year is a captaincy achievement that few in cricket history can match, and he did it while Australia’s fast-bowling stocks were arguably the deepest of any nation in this decade.
The Next Wave: Young Stars Breaking Through
Every great decade in cricket needs a group pushing the established order, and Shubman Gill has been the clearest example of that shift. He scored 2,255 ODI runs in just 42 innings during the 2020s, a tally that briefly put him ahead of Kohli on the decade’s run charts before Babar’s late surge overtook them both. Gill’s technique against pace, particularly on bouncy pitches, has already drawn comparisons to some of the best top-order batters of the previous generation, and he is still building his resume.
Top Ten Cricketers of the 2020s: Ranked
Based on statistical output, ICC silverware, and sustained influence across formats, here is where the decade’s best cricketers currently stand:
- Virat Kohli – Sustained excellence across three formats and a genuine trophy resume
- Jasprit Bumrah – The most statistically dominant bowler of his generation
- Babar Azam – Decade-leading ODI numbers at his peak
- Joe Root – The most consistent Test century-maker since 2020
- Steve Smith – Still the hardest wicket to buy in Test cricket
- Kane Williamson – A World Test Championship winner with elite averages
- Pat Cummins – Two ICC titles as captain, plus genuine strike-bowling numbers
- Rohit Sharma – Two ICC trophies as skipper and record-breaking power-hitting
- Rashid Khan – Redefined how franchise cricket values a wrist-spinner
- Shubman Gill – The clearest sign of the next generation arriving early
This is not a closed list. Cricket in the 2020s has moved fast, and players like Suryakumar Yadav in T20 cricket or a resurgent all-rounder from any of the major nations could easily force their way into this conversation before the decade ends.
FAQ: Best Cricketers of the Decade
Who is considered the best batter of the 2020s so far?
Virat Kohli and Babar Azam are the two names that come up most often, with Kohli’s overall consistency across formats giving him a slight edge over Babar’s peak ODI numbers between 2020 and 2023.
Who is the best bowler of the 2020s?
Jasprit Bumrah leads most conversations here, largely because of his Test bowling average under 20 and his Player of the Tournament performance at the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Has any team dominated the decade the way Australia did in the 2000s?
No single team has run away with every format. India has been the most consistent white-ball side with two ICC titles under Rohit Sharma, while Australia has been the strongest in Test cricket, winning the World Test Championship and reclaiming the Border-Gavaskar Trophy under Pat Cummins.
Which young player is most likely to top this list by 2030?
Shubman Gill is the name most frequently mentioned, given his ODI output already rivalling established stars and his growing comfort against fast, bouncy pitches overseas.
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