The Anderson-Kohli War: A Test Cricket Classic

Whenever these two lock horns against each other in test cricket, it is always a fiery, competitive, entertaining, and tense battle, with both trying to get the better of each other.

 

In India: Kohli has had the wood over Anderson in India, with Anderson dismissing him only once(in 2012) across 3 series (2012, 2016, 2021)

 

In England:

 

2014 - Anderson was too good for Kohli as well, getting rid of him on 4 instances during that campaign. Kohli did not have a clue how far his off stump was besides being overly cautious in waiting for the ball to come in, with him getting out on balls swinging away. He was "opening up too early", a fact that further saw him getting out on deliveries moving away as well. After this tour, he understood how to adapt the technique according to the conditions and got more mentally fit in such problematic situations.

 

2018- It's not correct to say that Kohli was much better than Anderson in that particular series because of getting dismissed on two occasions while Kohli consumed 114 of 270 deliveries without getting out. This actually suited him as well, as his patience and his improved technique came together, so he ended up being the highest run scorer in that series, with 593 runs, 3 fifties, and 2 centuries. Kohli shorted the width of his feet in his stance and remained a bit more side-on and even made minor tweaks to his front foot movement in order to delay his response and see the ball for longer.

 

2021- Anderson dismissed Kohli 2 times, and Kohli's woes outside off resurfaced, haunting him in the 2021 series. He went back to old habits like the 2014 series his back foot wasn't virtually parallel to the popping crease and there was a lot of his right shoulder showing. He got exposed by Anderson and the other England bowlers in that tour.

 

2022 - In the lone test at Birmingham, Kohli scored 8 off 29 against Anderson without being dismissed.

 

Kohli missed India's test series against England at home last season as his wife was giving birth to their second child. Well, we unfortunately did not witness Anderson vs Kohli for what would have possibly been the final time in this series. However, the duo last locked horns with each other at Birmingham, 2022.

 

Kohli's stats vs Anderson:

Innings: 36
Runs: 305
Balls faced: 710
Average: 43.57
Outs: 7
Strike Rate: 42.95

 

Anderson vs Kohli was surely a treat to watch in tests, with both of them wanting to get the better of each other. You could see that desperation and fire in their eyes whenever they faced off against each other.

 

It was surely worth a watch every time. It was worth viewing two legends go head to head against each other!