Karthik takes a stance in the Root vs Virat controversy, leaving Vaughan intrigued but gets surprised with a 'Kohli' twist at the end

Last month, former England captain Michael Vaughan sparked a heated debate on social media regarding who is the better Test batter between Joe Root and Virat Kohli. Vaughan's tweet came shortly after Root achieved his 34th century, surpassing Alastair Cook to become the England batter with the most tons in the format. Root's impressive performance also saw him closing in on Sachin Tendulkar's all-time run tally in Tests.

On Tuesday, he dragged former Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist into the debate, after the two were seen at loggerheads during a YouTube podcast show, where the ODI World Cup winner picked Kohli as the better batter in the debate across formats.

On Thursday, former India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik was asked the same question in Cricbuzz's 'HeyCB with DK' show on YouTube, and while the RCB star almost left Vaughan smacking his lips after he picked Root purely based on stats, he eventually ended his response with a major twist.

Responding to a fan question on the Root versus Kohli debate, Karthik admitted that while numbers do favour the former England skipper, having noticed Kohli in close quarters through his career, he reckoned that if he would ever be asked to pick a cricketer to bat for his life, he would name the former India captain

“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,” he said.

Following his twin centuries at the Lord's in the second Test match of the ongoing series against Sri Lanka, Root climbed in the all-time list to become the sixth-highest run-getter with 12377 runs in 145 appearances for England. He now stands just 96 runs shy of surpassing Cook to become England's most prolific batter in history and 3544 runs away from Sachin's historic feat.

Kohli, who is slated to play 10 Test matches over the next three months, stands 19th in the list with 8848 runs in 113 appearances for India. Among the Fab Four, he stands third behind Root and Steve Smith (9685 runs), but has the least centuries among them, with the Aussie and Kane Williamson standing second with 32 tons each.