Veteran England fast bowler James Anderson admitted that there was a lot of emotion involved in his celebrations when he dismissed Indian captain Virat Kohli in the first innings of the third Test at Headingley. Kohli was one of three top order Indian batsmen that Anderson dismissed in a fiery spell in the third Test in which India were dismissed for just 78 runs in the first innings.
“When I got Kohli out in the first innings in Leeds there was a lot of emotion. It was the same as at Trent Bridge. I guess there is that extra something with him because he is such a good player and their captain as well. You see how much it means to him when his team takes a wicket so I want to show him what it means to us to get him out,” Anderson wrote in his column for The Telegraph.
Anderson has shared a feisty rivalry with Kohli throughout their careers in Test cricket, particularly in matches played in England. The fast bowler was chiefly responsible for restricting Kohli to 134 runs in 10 innings during India’s 2014 tour of England. The Indian captain then hit back, with Anderson failing to dismiss him throughout the 2018 series in which Kohli was the highest run scorer with 593 runs in 10 matches.
In the Headingley Test, Anderson set up England’s innings win by dismissing in-form opener KL Rahul, Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara and giving away just six runs in the first innings. India did better in the second innings with Kohli scoring 55, his first half century of the series, but fast bowler Ollie Robinson’s five-wicket haul took England to victory.
“The ultimate aim is to bowl in a partnership and there was a good example of us working together in India’s second innings at Headingley. For the first 12 balls I bowled at Virat Kohli, he left ten. Joe Root was asking me to try and make him play a bit more. I was thinking, ‘I don’t want him to get off to a flyer,'” said Anderson.
