James Anderson Opens Up On His Rivalry with Virat Kohli

Indian skipper Virat Kohli has successfully deciphered the code behind James Anderson’s bowling, especially in the longest format of the game.

Cricket news: Kohli tackled Anderson’s bowling beautifully in the Edgbaston Test

The 36-year-old English pacer had been Kohli’s nemesis in the past as he had previously dismissed the Indian skippers five times in 13 matches.

But this time it was not meant to be the same as the Delhi-born cricketer tackled the bowling of Anderson and made some stupendous knocks in the first Test at Edgbaston.

Virat scored 149 in the first innings and 51 in the second innings and looked to take his team home single-handedly, however he failed as his team lost the game by 31 runs.

Anderson took four wickets in the game but it did not include the prized wicket of Kohli. Recently the English pacer opened up on his rivalry with the Indian captain.

“There’s a fiercely competitive rivalry between myself and Virat Kohli — but also enormous mutual respect. Kohli is ranked the world’s No 1 Test batsman after scoring 200 runs in the first Test and I’m the top-ranked bowler. I guess that’s top-of-the-range stuff and I certainly loved the battle with him at Edgbaston.

“I felt good bowling to Virat and my plans worked well. I might have dismissed him a few times with some plays and misses plus a dropped catch. I’ve been told only 17 of his 149 runs in the first innings came off my bowling,” Anderson was quoted as saying in The Sun.

“The game was played in a good spirit and there’s a lot of respect both ways between myself and Virat. There was the odd smile when I bowled a good ball and the odd smile from him,” the Lancashire-born fast bowler added. “I gave him a couple of freebies on his legs that he clipped for four and he said something like ‘That’s not like you, giving me freebies!’ It was teasing, really, leg-pulling. All in good spirit.”

Despite Kohli’s brilliant performance, he did not get enough support from the other batsmen as England won the Test and went 1-0 up in the five-match Test series.

The visiting team needs to make a comeback and perform well in the second Test at Lord’s which is scheduled to begin from August 9.