Legendary England seamer James Anderson opened up on his on-field battles with Virat Kohli as he bid adieu to international cricket on Friday, July 13. Notably, Anderson made his last appearance for England in the first Test against West Indies as the hosts won the game by an innings and 114 runs on Day 3 at Lord’s.
As the 41-year-old veteran called time on his illustrious 21-year-long career, Anderson recalled his battles with star India batter Virat Kohli. Speaking about the ups and downs of his career, the Lancashire-born cricketer said that in the early days of Kohli’s career, he felt that he could get him out every ball. However, further speaking ahead, Anderson said that he became so hard to dismiss after the batter began dominating world cricket.
“You go so up and down. Some series you feel amazing and some not quite on it and a batter gets the better of you. Playing against Virat Kohli in the early days, you felt you could get him out every ball and then recently like you can’t get him out at all. You feel so inferior,” Anderson told Sky Sports.
The intense battle between Kohli and Anderson began during India’s tour to England in 2014 as the English seamer dismissed the star batter four times across ten innings. The youngster who was playing Test cricket for the first time in England struggled against the moving Dukes ball as he could only score 134 runs from ten innings at an average of 13.40 with a highest score of 39.
However, Kohli finally conquered his demons on his next tour to England finishing as the highest run scorer of the five-match series with 593 runs to his name from ten innings at an average of 59.30 with two hundreds and three fifties.
Kohli vs Anderson over the years
Following the horrendous 2014 tour, Kohli never gave his wicket to Anderson for the next seven years despite the duo facing each other in 14 Tests. However, Anderson finally managed to end the streak by getting rid of the former India captain for a golden duck in the first Test of the 2021 series at Nottingham.
The legendary seamer further got the better of Kohli once again during the third Test at Headingley, Leeds. It was the last time Anderson dismissed Kohli in his international career. The duo faced each other in 36 innings in Tests where Kohli scored 305 runs against the English seamer at an average of 43.57 and got dismissed seven times.
On the other hand, in ODIs, Anderson bowled to Kohli in six innings and the India batter managed to score 26 runs against him at an average of 8.66 while getting dismissed thrice. Meanwhile, in T20Is, the duo never faced each other.