Anderson edges verbal battle as rattled Kohli runs out of luck
Hengland bowler wins latest duel as impatient India captain chases a Curran delivery he could easily have left alone
‘This isn’t your backyard,” Virat Kohli told James Anderson when the England bowler returned to his mark on the fourth morning at Lord’s. There was a Test match to win, a near-capacity crowd were enjoying a fine Sunday in the capital, and two modern titans were giving every iota of themselves to tilt the game in their direction.
Recent series between England and India on these shores have been engrossing, wildly oscillating affairs. This has been sport brimming with terrific skill and, in the case of the batsmen on both sides, more than a little vulnerability, too. These series have been about far more than the personal rivalry between two magnificent cricketers, but they have been enriched by their duel. At least in England: the Indian version has been altogether more one-sided, with Anderson dismissing Kohli only once there.
In 2014, Anderson won round one decisively, snaring Kohli four times in 50 balls. Anderson bowled brilliantly in round two, too. But through a combination of fantastical skill – adapting his technique to bat further forward – and the luck that had eluded him four years earlier, Kohli scored 114 against Anderson in 2018 without being dismissed.
Anderson’s wondrous delivery to dismiss Kohli for a golden duck at Trent Bridge – swinging in and then seaming away to claim the India captain’s edge – suggested that their duel would be the most compelling in the series again.
England’s default when Kohli arrives is to bring Anderson into the attack, or extend his spell if he is on. By the time Kohli entered Anderson had already bowled six overs with the new ball. Scenting the prize of Kohli’s wicket, Anderson would continue for another three overs.
Alas, Kohli would spend all bar three balls of those at the non-striker’s end. When he did receive a delivery from Anderson, Kohli drove it through point for four. The second went safely past Kohli’s push, before he tucked away a single. That was as far as their duel with bat and ball went, though the skirmishing continued by other means.
Anderson may be England’s primary weapon against Kohli but, without him, they retained a clear plan. Essentially, it was to hang the ball outside off stump, testing Kohli’s patience to leave it safely alone.
Sam Curran has enjoyed some success with his left-arm angle against Kohli before. At the end of the 22nd over, bowling over the wicket, Curran curled a ball back to Kohli’s front pad, which was a little too high to be lbw. This inswing may have been in Kohli’s mind at the start of Curran’s next over. This time the ball angled across Kohli, who feathered an edge through to Jos Buttler when he could easily have left it alone.
As he trudged off, Kohli remained a member of the club of elite batsmen never to grace the honours board at Lord’s; in six Test innings, his first-innings 42 here is his
highest score. If Lord’s is not Anderson’s backyard, it has not been Kohli’s either. At least the Lord’s curse has good company – Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis never passed 54 in 28 Test innings here.
Kohli’s dismissal for 20 also extended his worst run in Tests. Since the start of 2020, Kohli is averaging just 23.94 in 10 Tests. There have been no issues with his playing spin during this sequence, but Kohli has been uncharacteristically vulnerable to seam. He is averaging only 20 against pace in this time, and just 19 and 16 to full and good-length deliveries.
Kohli’s judgment outside off stump has seemed a little awry. Including the World Test Championship final, four of his five dismissals this summer have been pushing at balls that could have been left alone.
It adds up to a scintilla of vulnerability in Kohli’s game. Yet there may also be another, simpler issue: randomness. Since 2020, he is playing only fractionally more false shots than in the previous two years. He is just paying a higher price when he does so: in 2018-19, he was dismissed every 14 false shots – in line with the global average.
Since then, he has been dismissed every seven. As unsatisfying as it is, luck offers the best explanation for the difference. And so a player of Kohli’s resplendence is unlikely to remain in such a relative slump for long. England would be wise to exploit his dip while they can.