"Something which was new to me": Sachin Tendulkar reveals how James Anderson troubled him
If swing bowling is an art then veteran England pacer James Anderson is Picasso of it. The Englishman has ruled the 22-yard pitch in the last decade with his swinging ability. James Anderson is the leading wicket-taking pacer in Test cricket with 584 wickets in 151 Tests.
During his illustrious career, Anderson has made several batting greats his bunnies like Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli. Reverse-swing plays a huge part in Anderson's success in Test cricket. Legendary bowlers like Wasim Akram, Glenn McGrath, Zaheer Khan mastered the art of reverse-swing and James Anderson took it one step further with more consistency.
Batting great Sachin Tendulkar revealed how Anderson troubled him with something he had never face in his illustrious career.
“What I experienced over a period of time that he would hold the bowl as if he is bowling an outswinger but the release point, he would try and bring the ball back in. The number of batters would look at the wrist position and what he has actually done, he has shown you that he is bowling an inswinger but the imbalance between both sides of the ball will take the ball away from you,” Sachin Tendulkar said while speaking to West Indies legend Brian Lara on his 100MB app
“But what he has done, he has got you to commit to play for an outswinger and the ball after covering almost 3/4th of the length of the pitch starts leaving you. And that is something which was new to me,” he further added.
Tendulkar said now Anderson's fast-bowling partner Stuart Broad is using the same skill to trouble the opposition batters.
“Nobody had done that, now I have spotted even Stuart Broad doing that. But Anderson started this long time ago. So, I rate him very, very high and he is one of the best exponents of the reverse swing,” Tendulkar added.
