Former pace bowling legend picked the tougher batter between and in his illustrious Test career. Anderson retired from international cricket after playing his last Test against the West Indies at Lord’s, where he started his red-ball career with England.
Anderson played Test cricket for over two decades, starting from 2002 and finishing in 2024. England’s most capped Test cricketer with 188 matches, Anderson faced some of the greatest batters in world cricket across generations during his career, including legends like Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli. The former right-arm pacer faced two Indian batting stalwarts for a considerable period—Tendulkar during the early phase of his career and Kohli at his peak.
Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli tested James Anderson’s skills in different eras, with the former challenging him with impeccable technique and composure, while the latter pushed him with aggressive intent and fierce intent.
Anderson on facing Virat Kohli in TestsSpeaking to the talkSPORT podcast, James Anderson stated that he had an early success against Virat Kohli in the 2014 England tour, but it became difficult to bowl to him following his improved showing in the 2018 Test series.
“I had some success early against Kohli, the first time he came to England in 2014. I really exploited his weakness of outside off-stump, and then the next time I played against him – he had obviously gone back and worked on that – he was totally a different player.” Anderson said.
“He really had taken his game to a different level, made it very difficult for not just me but for bowlers in general. I got him out 4-5 times in the first series and then didn’t get him out in the next I played against him,” he added.
Virat Kohli had a disastrous Test tour of England in 2014, where he scored just 134 runs at an average of 13.40 in 10 innings. However, four years later, Kohli dominated the series with a brilliant performance, amassing 593 runs, including 2 centuries and 3 fifties, at an average of 59.30 in 10 innings.
Virat Kohli’s last Test tour of England was for the 2021/22 series, where he scored 249 runs, including two fifties, at an average of 27.66 in nine innings.
Shift in dominance with Kohli than TendulkarFurther speaking on facing Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar, James Anderson stated that there was a shift in dominance against Virat Kohli, which he did not feel while bowling to Sachin Tendulkar, adding that the former wanted to ‘get into a battle’.
“Against Sachin, for example, I didn’t feel like there was that sort of shift in dominance. With Kohli, there was definitely a shift.” England’s highest wicket-taker said.
“Found him a very difficult player to bowl at because he had that steely mindset, wanting to get into a battle. He’s very competitive, and after that initial success, it was very difficult to bowl against,” he added.
Virat Kohli and James Anderson’s first encounter was during India’s Test tour of England. Since then, the two met the two met multiple times in high-stakes Test battles between India and England, with their on-field rivalry becoming one of the most talked-about duels in modern Test cricket.
Virat Kohli has scored 305 runs against James Anderson, but has been dismissed seven times by the former England pacer in 36 innings.
Contrasting on-field personalitiesJames Anderson further spoke about the contrasting personalities between Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar, stating that the former was more expressive than the latter. The former England pacer stated that he cherishes all the battles he had against Kohli on the field.
“Kohli was a slightly different character than Sachin. Sachin was very mild, mannered, very calm at the crease. Virat was more expressive with his emotions. Wore them on his sleeves, and you can kind of see it.” Anderson.
“In his captaincy, when he celebrated his wickets. I tried as much as I could to get that feeling out of the equation and just try to think of him as a batter and not too much about who it was. It was difficult at times; we had many battles on the field,” he added.
