Anderson looking forward to Kohli challenge next year

London: Legendary England pacer James Anderson is looking forward to a tough contest against Virat Kohli when his side travels to India next year.

Anderson recently became the highest Test wicket taker among pacers with 600 scalps during the home series against Pakistan, and Kohli have had some intriguing battles over the years.

“It’s always tough bowling at batsmen of that quality. It will be a tough battle but that’s something I do enjoy. You want to get the best players out,” Anderson told the Test Match Special podcast.

“I had some success against him in 2014 and then he came back a completely different player in 2018 and was incredible,” the 38-year-old Anderson, who is currently in the fourth place among all-time highest Test wicket-takers, said.

Asked what changes he saw in Kohli’s batting in 2018, Anderson said, “He left the ball really well in 2018. The first time he came over (in 2014), when I was bowling out-swingers he might chase it early on and that brought the edge and the slips into play.

“He left it a lot better and he was a lot more patient (in 2018). He waited for you to bowl at him and then he’s very strong off his legs so he could score freely,” said Anderson.

On the techniques he would use on continental pitches, he said, “We have had our success. We tried to roll fingers down the side of the ball, just try to make it grip on the dry surface.”

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka great Kumar Sangakkara believes Anderson may have set a record that will be “Jimmy’s alone”.

MCC president Sangakkara, in an email to club members published on Saturday, said Anderson’s feat was a “joyful moment for the ages” and “an exceptional achievement”.

“Jimmy is a fast bowler of immense skill and determination,” added the 42-year-old Sangakkara, a former Sri Lanka captain.

“His achievement is tremendous, not just for the fact that it is 600 wickets, but also for what that entails in terms of effort, commitment and reinvention.”

The only bowlers ahead of Anderson in the all-time list of Test wicket-takers are three retired spinners — Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan (800), Australia’s Shane Warne (708) and India’s Anil Kumble (619). And of the three other fast bowlers to have taken more than 500 Test wickets, only Anderson’s longstanding England new-ball colleague Stuart Broad (514 wickets), is still an active cricketer, with Australia’s Glenn McGrath (563) and West Indies’ Courtney Walsh (519) having long since hung up their boots.

“He has set a record for current and future pace bowlers to chase, but it may just be one record that will be Jimmy’s and Jimmy’s alone,” said Sangakkara, a former wicketkeeper-batsman who appeared in 134 Tests and was Sri Lanka’s captain when they lost the 2011 World Cup final to India in Mumbai.

“It was my great privilege to play against him and I now share with you the enjoyment of watching him from beyond the boundary rope for as long as he may continue.”

Sangakkara is the first overseas president in the 233-year-old history of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the owners of London’s Lord’s cricket ground.

By tradition, MCC presidents serve for just one year.

Agencies