Veteran England bowler James Anderson has had some fantastic clashes with top Indian batsman Virat Kohli over the years, and the cricketing world hoped for more of the same when England returned to India for another Test series in January of this year.
However, Virat Kohli withdrew from the series for personal reasons. Anderson said that the tourists would have delighted to play against the world-class hitter. However, he also joked that England supporters will be grateful that Kohli did not score large against their team.
Here’s what James Anderson said on Jio Cinema about Virat Kohli’s absence:
“I guess English fans will be thankful he’s not playing because he’s such a quality player. But from our point of view you want to test yourself, you want to come up against the best and he’s been someone who I’ve found really challenging to bowl at over the years and it’s a shame he’s not been playing.”
James Anderson
Virat Kohli has hit 305 runs from 710 balls delivered by Anderson in Tests. However, the experienced bowler has blasted India’s former captain seven times.
James Anderson admires Jasprit Bumrah’s skills
James Anderson was also delighted with speedster Jasprit Bumrah’s performance in the series thus far, particularly in the second Test in Visakhapatnam, when he took nine wickets and was named Player of the Match.
On this, Anderson stated:
“You know that reverse swing can play a big part in India and he’s (Bumrah) a great exponent of it. That yorker we saw to Ollie Pope, he’s got that up his sleeve as well. It’s not a fluke that he’s got to number one in the world. He’s a world-class bowler and from our point of view we weren’t surprised that he put up a performance like that.”
James Anderson
Jasprit Bumrah took a break for the fourth Test at Ranchi. Now, he’s back for the last match in Dharamshala. The game’s conditions might suit fast bowlers. So, we can expect top-tier fast bowling from both Bumrah and Anderson. Anderson is almost at 700 Test wickets!
