England fast bowling great James Anderson said he had his “favourite” battle with India’s modern-day batting legend, Virat Kohli, in the Pataudi Trophy this summer in the UK.
Anderson felt great to be involved in a contest that was as competitive as it was “well-spirited”, with nothing ill intended towards each other.
“This summer was probably my favourite contest with Virat. We’ve had a few good battles over the years, both in England and India, but this year was certainly my favourite,”
ESPNcricinfo quoted Anderson as saying.
The Anderson-Kohli contest has been an enthralling one in Test cricket, especially when the Indian captain has travelled to England. Back on the 2014 tour, Anderson dominated Kohli, being the chief destroyer and a bowler largely responsible for the great batter’s disastrous series where he averaged just 13.4 over 10 innings.
However, Kohli came back strongly in 2018 and this time didn’t give away his wicket even once to Anderson. In an English summer where batting conditions were arguably the toughest seen in recent Test history, Kohli made 593 runs at an average of 59.30. No one else from either side made 350 runs and averaged 40 in the five-match series.
This year, Kohli was not in as much command of his game as he got out twice to Anderson over four Tests and struck only 218 runs at 31.14 per innings. But he still made important contributions in India’s memorable victories at Lord’s and The Oval, allowing his team to take a 2-1 lead.
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Even as the fate of the cancelled fifth and final Test in Manchester is not yet confirmed, India are set to end with their best series result in the UK since 2007 and Kohli’s small but significant contributions with the bat to that should not be ignored.
Anderson said even though they were seen having a go at each other at one point in time, he and Kohli have a lot of “respect” for each other and since the contest took place in the right spirit, “I really enjoyed” it.
