The 3-2-1 scale

How about a measure of excellence that rates players' skills across the international format?

Speed of scoring is as good a yardstick as any to judge batsmen of the future by © Getty Images
And so the great Sehwag rides off into the sunset, his international career concluding as it began: on his own terms. Avatar, revolutionary, seer, he has ushered in batting's new age, and, like Muhammad Ali, has been able to conceptualise his work. "See ball, hit ball" is cricket's "Float like a butterfly…", a perfect iteration of intent.

His full impact may only be apparent when the generation that grew up watching him arrives, because Sehwag, of all batsmen, was least about the raw facts and figures. Batting is a wider discipline now than ever before. As they blaze through the game's shifting sands, Sehwag and Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers and Brendon McCullum, Virat Kohli and the rest must, in their own quest for greatness, master a broader range than any of the greats that have come before: from 20 overs to five days; from 120 deliveries to two innings.

What are the figures that recognise excellence across that spread? Average? Scoring rate? Amount of runs?