I genuinely wish India goes on to cross that hurdle – Dinesh Karthik picks his two WTC finalists

Former English captain, Michael Vaughan has ignited a controversy drawing contrast between Virat Kohli and Joe Root. His tweet came shortly after the English batter scored his 34th century to leapfrog Alastair Cook to become England’s leading run-scorer and also swing viciously close to Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time run-tally in Test cricket.

On Tuesday, Vaughan engaged in a fierce debate with the former Australian captain, Adam Gilchrist about who should be the all-time great on the Club Prairie Fire Podcast. Much to Vaughan’s woes, Gilly sided with the former Indian captain.

RCB’s batting mentor, Dinesh Karthik opened up on the debate on the show called ‘HeyCB with DK’ and left Michael Vaughan with a very bitter taste in his mouth. Answering a fan question, DK said that numbers may have done Joe Root the honours but after seeing Kohli from very close quarters, he would pick the Indian star as the better batter.

DK said, “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. 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.”

Kohli is slated to be a part of the upcoming 10 Test matches which India will be playing in the next three months. With 8848 runs from 113 appearances, Kohli stands 18th in the overall list of run-scorers in Test cricket while being third in the list of Fab Four with Root and Steve Smith ahead of him.