Who is the best Test batsman at the moment

If you check the current ICC rankings, the order of best Test batsman is
1 A.B. de Villiers
2 H.M. Amla
3 M.J. Clarke

All three batsman having been playing at such an exceptional level that it’s difficult to single out the best among. So I went into a little more detail and found out the highest run scorers in the year. Clarke comes 1st with 1030 runs from 22 innings. AB de Villiers comes 6th, but has scored 743 runs from just 7 innings at an astounding average of 82.55. Amla comes 11th with 590 runs from 9 innings at an average of 73.75. Given the statistics, it’s easy to eliminate Clarke from the discussion. The other 2 players also have the added advantage that their team is currently the No.1 Test side in the World thanks to them (credits to Dale Steyn as well).

In my opinion, the Best Test Batsman at the moment is rightly AB de Villiers. I believe what makes Villiers little better than Amla is his ability to change the tempo of the game. He can play either a slow game or can rack up runs at a rapid pace depending on the situation. An example of this is the 2nd Test against Pakistan this year (Oct 2013) where he supported Captain Graeme Smith beautifully with a knock of 164 at a strike rate of 59. He did the opposite in Feb, when against the same opposition, he smashed an unbeaten 103 at a strike rate of 88. Villiers also keeps wickets at times and is currently the ODI captain. Villiers is one of the most versatile batsman of this age being able to play the ball to any place on the ground. His variety of strokes makes him difficult to bowl to and he manages to combine the aggressive nature of his strokes with technique that is comparable with Amla’s. His reverse sweeps have become an almost daily highlight. Just check this three consecutive ones of Australia’s Lyon to bring up his century at Perth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV_Wzo2Fm-s.

AB De Villiers is also on the way to becoming one of the greatest wicket keeping batsman ever. The trend started by Adam Gilchrist of Australia of keepers being able to score well, has been continued by AB with such ease. Gilchrist usually bats at number 7 in Tests when the bowlers are tired and the ball is old. Villiers bats at number 5 and hence needs to be able to play with both the upper order batsman and the lower ones. And Villiers is just 29 with at least 4 more good years in him. Currently, the best Test Batsman, Villiers has all the makings of finishing as one of the most perfect players – batting ,keeping and captaincy.