ROUND ONE TO ANDERSON!
Jimmy dismisses King Kohli with first ball to drag England back into Test
Jimmy Anderson roared and set off on a gallop around the Trent Bridge ground that has provided so many magical moments throughout his momentous Test career.
The renewal of his great battle with a fellow titan of the game in Virat Kohli had lasted just one ball and England were back in a first Test they seemed to have surrendered on day one.
What a moment for Anderson and an historic one too as it brought him level with Anil Kumble on 619 Test wickets, with only Shane Warne and muttiah muralitharan ahead of him.
Kohli, in contrast, stood transfixed, unable to believe he had edged a beauty from his old nemesis to allow Anderson to strike first in the latest instalment of a fluctuating rivalry.
it was one of those pieces of drama only Test cricket can provide and it lit up a truncated second day when England had seemed close to throwing in the towel only for the momentum to shift quickly and perhaps, weather permitting, decisively.
How frustrating it was then that first, controversially, bad light and then rain cut short what was becoming a compelling opening salvo in this five-match series.
England certainly seemed flat and near defeated when Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul carried on where they left off on the first evening by negotiating everything that was thrown at them simply by following the basic disciplines of batting in tricky conditions.
And, as news started to filter through to Trent Bridge of the latest injury blow that will keep Jofra Archer out of the Ashes, English Test cricket seemed at a particularly low ebb. That was until Rohit, with his first rush of blood, inexplicably pulled a rare short ball from the excellent Ollie Robinson straight to Sam Curran at long leg on the stroke of lunch. it was the break England desperately needed and it was followed after the interval by another demonstration of the enduring skills that make Anderson, just past his 39th birthday, a master of the swing bowling art. Cheteshwar Pujara is under pressure to bat assertively as Kohli (left) seeks a more aggressive indian approach at the start of a new World Test Championship cycle. yet he was unable to even provide his trademark solidity and was given out lbw to Robinson by umpire michael Gough not playing a shot when he had made just two. Hawk-Eye, however, had the ball passing over the top of the stumps.
it provided a short-lived reprieve for Pujara who quickly edged Anderson to Jos Buttler and betrayed his desperation for a score by hanging around until technology, for once, confirmed that a low catch had carried.
That brought the indian captain to the crease at the start of his quest to finally win a Test series in England for his country, surely knowing he will never have a better chance than now with England looking so brittle and vulnerable.
Anderson had spoken enthusiastically before the Test about renewing the acquaintances with Kohli that started when he routinely dismissed him during the 2014 series but has seen one of the best batsmen in the world having the upper hand ever since. Kohli was less keen to talk up their rivalry before the match, saying only ‘i will bat against him’ when asked how he would deal with Anderson, seemingly irritated at the question. Well, he did not bat against him for long yesterday.
Anderson had delivered no fewer than 434 balls at Kohli since the last time he dismissed him seven years ago but now he found himself on a hat-trick and Trent Bridge roared with him as the india captain had to reluctantly trudge off. Round one to Jimmy.
Anderson said the dismissal of Kohli was ‘right up there’ with his 619 dismissals in Test cricket. He added: ‘There was some emotion in the celebration, because it was such a big wicket. To bowl the ball exactly where i wanted to, and for him to nick it — when you get the team back in the game by getting
their best player out, that doesn’t happen very often.’
Ajinkya Rahane then watched the hat-trick ball go down the legside but when he was brilliantly run out by a direct hit from Jonny bairstow, four india wickets had fallen for 15 runs off 38 balls and the game was very much on.
it would have been worse for india, too, had Kl Rahul — only playing because Mayank Agarwal was hit on the head in the nets on Monday by Mohammed siraj and suffered concussion — not been dropped by Dom sibley off Anderson on 52. or if Rishabh Pant’s wild swish at Anderson had not fallen safely into the covers rather than gone to hand.
but just when the contest was hotting up Gough and Richard Kettleborough provided cricket’s latest attempt at self-sabotage by taking the players off for bad light with floodlights shining down on Trent bridge.
Yes, rain followed 20 minutes later but it is such a bad look to come off for light when there is artificial help and it is one that another full-house did not deserve after they were also treated shabbily on day one by tardy overrates that cost them nine overs.
Test cricket needs to show much more urgency to keep the show on the road, certainly if they want to attract the Hundred generation to the ultimate form of the game.
As it was the second day degenerated into farce when the players firstly returned for Anderson to bowl one ball before rain fell again and then another two deliveries before a terminal break in play at 5pm. He is still to complete his 14th over after starting it at 2.30pm.
This should be, with india still 58 behind at 125 for four, a classic low-scoring Test but more bad weather is expected throughout the last three days so it could be that honours will remain even before next week’s second Test. And england would have taken that after their first-day capitulation.