James Anderson, on the brink of turning 40 and perhaps the best swing bowler at the present, made a sprint in delight as he got the big fish on Wednesday. Virat Kohli once again fell prey to his old nemesis Anderson as the English paceman plucked his wicket for the seventh time in Test cricket, equalling Nathan Lyon in the list of bowlers who have dismissed the Indian skipper the most times.
On the first day of the Headingley Test, Anderson cast his spell to rip through India's top-order. Kohli, batting on 7, walked back after the delivery caught thick outside edge off his bat, going straight to Jos Buttler behind the stumps.
While Kohli has now been dismissed by Anderson and Lyon on seven occasions, Stuart Broad, Moeen Ali, Pat Cummins, and Ben Stokes have plucked his wicket on five instances.
Kohli also made his way back with an unwanted record. The 32-year-old has now played 50 innings without reaching a three-figure score in international cricket -- 18 in Tests, 15 in ODIs & 17 in T20Is.
Anderson also got the better of KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara, leaving India reeling at 4/2 within the first five overs of the match. Both Rahul and Pujara poked Anderson's wider deliveries to wicketkeeper Buttler. Pujara also became the first Indian to get out on 10 occasions against Anderson.
Kohli, after winning the toss, stuck to the same "template" as he went with an unchanged playing XI and elected to bat first. Keeping out Ravichandran Ashwin from the set-up, the team management chose the four-prolonged pace quartet and Ravindra Jadeja as the lone spinner.
The verbal warfare between Kohli and Anderson was talking point of the previous Test at Lord's and a charged-up Indian skipper was also spotted having a go at Ollie Robinson when the pacer was at the crease.
Though the Kohli-Anderson moment helped the Indian camp in getting "extra motivation" on the field, skipper Kohli had refused to share the details of his exchange with the senior England pacer.
“I can't give you details of the words that was spoken. It was for camera and stump mike to pick that up for both teams. And then we analysed. What’s done in the moment, give you extra motivation obviously to get together as a team more strongly,” Kohli had said ahead of the third Test.
