James Anderson, England’s bowling veteran, recently discussed his experiences bowling to two of India’s batting greats, Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar. The veteran pacer, who retired from Test cricket in 2024, has defeated Kohli seven times and Tendulkar nine times during their respective Test careers, more than any other bowler.
Anderson’s matches with Kohli drew a lot of attention, especially following the 2014 series in England. The right-handed hitter, who was still establishing himself as a Test player, had a disappointing season, scoring only 134 runs in five Tests. Anderson exposed and profited on the Indian batter’s weakness of edging deliveries outside off stump, dismissing him four times in the series alone.
“I had some early success against Kohli when he initially came to England in 2014. I really exploited his weakness outside off stump, and the following time I played against him (in 2018), he had obviously gone away and worked on it, so it was like bowling to a different guy,” Anderson told the TalkSport Podcast.
Didn’t feel like there was that sort of shift in dominance: James Anderson
In the 2018 series, Kohli smashed 697 runs, including two tons and three fifties, while Anderson couldn’t dismiss him even once.
“He’d taken his game to a different level. He made it very difficult, not just for me, but for bowlers in general. I think I got him out four or five times in the first series, and then I didn’t get him out in the next series at all,” he added.
On the other hand, the fast bowler, while speaking about Sachin Tendulkar, had a different point of view. Anderson first faced the Little Master when the latter had already become a global icon.
“Against Sachin, for example, I didn’t feel like there was that sort of shift in dominance. With Kohli, there definitely was, and I found him a really difficult player to bowl at because he also had that steely mindset.”
Recently, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) decided to rebrand the Pataudi Trophy to the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, ahead of the upcoming five-match series between the two countries, starting June 20.
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