England’s stalwart batter Joe Root has been going through a brilliant form, becoming the side’s all-time leading centurion in Test cricket, surpassing legendary Alastair Cook. Over a while, there has been a huge discussion going on as to who is the best batter among the current lot of players, specially the Fab 4- Joe Root, Kane Williamson, Steve Smith, and Virat Kohli.
Recently, former India cricketer Dinesh Karthik was spotted sharing his school of thoughts on the debate of the best batter. The former wicketkeeper agreed that Root is ahead when it comes to numbers but his heart feels Virat Kohli because of the dedication and commitment he put towards the game.
“Numbers will tell you it’s Joe Root, but my heart, the fact that he (Kohli) 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,” Karthik said in a video on Cricbuzz.
“If I were given a question of who would bat for my life, it would be Kohli. No doubt,” Karthik added.
Karthik opted for Kohli most likely because of the fact that he has played a lot of cricket together. But then, Kohli has not been able to perform with the bat in the longest format for quite some time. He even did not play in the England series and before that, he could only make a fifty in the South Africa tour. Kohli’s last hundred came against West Indies last year.
Talking about Root, the former English skipper has collected the most number of Test series since 2021, getting 17 centuries. Kohli on the other hand could only manage to score two hundred in this time.