England pacer James Anderson said “it’s a shame” that he did not get to bowl to Virat Kohli in the five-match Test series against India.
Virat Kohli has not been a part of the Indian national cricket team as he withdrew from the series to be with his actress wife Anushka Sharma as the couple recently welcomed the birth of their second child, Akaay. Kohli and Anushka got married in 2017 after dating for some years and welcomed their daughter Vamika in January 2021.
Anderson though said that English fans will be thankful that Kohli did not play a part in the matches.
“Yeah, you always want to play against the best players. And it’s been a shame that he’s not been a part of the series. We have had some great battles over the years. But not just for me, I think as a team you want to play against the best in the world and he certainly is that,” Anderson said on JioCinema.
“I guess English fans will be thankful he’s not playing because he’s such a quality player. But from our point of view you want to test yourself, you want to come up against the best and he’s been someone who I’ve found really challenging to bowl at over the years and it’s a shame he’s not been playing,” Anderson added.
In fact, India did not have many stars in their ranks apart from Kohli, as frontline seamer Mohammed Shami is out with an injury and recently underwent surgery. Middle-order batter KL Rahul missed tests after hurting himself in the Hyderabad opener, while India rested pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah for the match in Ranchi to manage his workload.
It did not bother Rohit Sharma and Team India as youngsters stepped up to help take an unassailable 3-1 lead by winning the fourth test by five wickets.
This was India’s 17th consecutive test series win at home, where they have not lost a test series since an Alastair Cook-led England bested them in 2012.
For England, who won the opening test in Hyderabad and have been competitive as well as entertaining in Visakhapatnam and Ranchi — it was their first series defeat under captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon ‘Baz’ McCullum.
England had won the first test in Hyderabad by 28 runs. India responded by winning the second test in Visakhapatnam by 106 runs, and then the third test in Rajkot by 434 runs. The fifth test will be played in Dharamshala from March 7.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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