Just after Joe Root reaches his 34th Test century in the second innings of the second Test against Sri Lanka at Lord’s, the former national captain Michael Vaughan comes up with a cryptic post on social media where he compares the red-ball numbers between Root and Virat Kohli. Now, Dinesh Karthik, the former Indian wicket-keeper batter, has kept his view regarding the matter.
Root has now not only become the highest century-maker for the ‘Three Lions’ but has also inched closer to Sachin Tendulkar in the all-time run tally of the red-ball format.
Vaughan also dragged the former wicket-keeper batter of the World Cup-winning Australian side, Adam Gilchrist, into the debate, where the latter picked up Virat as the better batter across the three formats of the game.
“Who would bat for my life!!”- Dinesh Karthik reacts
The former Indian wicket-keeper batter, Dinesh Karthik, has come up with a different reply when comparing Joe Root and Virat Kohli. In the recent ‘HeyCB with DK’ on Cricbuzz, the Tamil Nadu-born was asked to pick one batter between the two greatest batters of all time.
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The former England captain and the current member of the side from Yorkshire, Root, has scored 12377 runs in 265 innings at an average of 50.93 and a strike rate of 56.98, celebrating 34 centuries and 64 half-centuries, and is now just 24 runs away from overtaking Kumar Sangakkara to become the sixth highest run-getter in the Test format.
Kohli, one of the most sensational batters of all time across formats, hasn’t enjoyed a great time in the last two years, which has dropped his numbers a little in the longest format of the game. The right-handed batter has collected 8848 runs in 113 Tests at an average of 55.56 with the help of 29 centuries.
Dinesh Karthik felt that if he was asked to pick a player only based on their numbers, then he would go with the England batter, who loves batting in the big series in crucial moments.
“Numbers will tell you it’s Joe Root, but my heart, the fact that he is someone I’ve seen playing in close quarters for the longest time now, over a decade. I know how he loves playing those big moments and big series.” The former RCB batter expressed in the video on YouTube.
In case of the international cricket, there is no one competing with the former Indian captain currently. He is the fourth-highest run-getter of the game at the moment with 26942 runs in 591 innings at an average of over 53 and a strike rate of nearly 80, with the help of 140 half-centuries and 80 centuries.
Root is 13th on the list with 19792 runs in 455 innings at an average of 48.86, thanks to his 50-centuries and 108 half-centuries.
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“And if somebody asks him questions, he will come to you so strongly that you will be thinking, ‘Wow, why did I even ask that question.’ If I were given a question of who would bat for my life, it would be Kohli. No doubt.” Dinesh Karthik smashed the past comments of Vaughan.
Virat will be playing ten red-ball games in the next four months, against Bangladesh, New Zealand, and Australia, and will have a great chance to leapfrog in the list. Root, meanwhile, will be looking to become the leading run-getter for England in the longest format of the game going past Sir Alastair Cook.