India vs England, 1st Test: How important is this series for England legend, James Anderson.

In a couple of days’ time, Anderson will secure what ought to be his last fight against one of his favorite adversaries, India, before a final hurrah against the old foe, Australia, later in the year. 

James Anderson, the best quick bowler throughout the entire history of Test cricket, praised his 39th birthday celebration on Friday. With 617 wickets to his name, the England legend has maybe achieved more than he set out to do. However, notwithstanding the entirety of his accomplishments, two major battles still stay in his recognized career. 

At the point when he began playing in the mid-2000s, India had the most impressive batting line-up – Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, and Virender Sehwag. The top bowlers were the top prize. Thus, when Anderson found the opportunity against them he transformed his absolute first Test versus India, in March 2006, at Wankhede, with a match haul of six wickets where he got Tendulkar, Dravid, and Sehwag. 

Since then, the England pace ace has been on a roll. In 30 Tests against the Indians, he has 118 wickets, the most against any team he has competed against, from 1072 overs. Against Australia, he has 104 wickets from 1175.1 overs.

Once Tendulkar, Dravid, and Sehwag retired, Anderson’s targets seamlessly changed to Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Ajinkya Rahane, and enjoyed the same rate of success.

Anderson is not just a wicket-taking machine; he is an artist. Said artistry is most evident in his first spell with the new ball before he makes subtle changes to attack with the old ball. When in full flow, Anderson is a great sight.

England lost that series played over Chennai and Ahmedabad 3-1, but Anderson was not easily tamed. In the first Test at Chepauk, he carved open the batting line-up on the final day with figures of 11-4-17-3 to help England pull off their only win. The first over he bowled on that Day 5 is regarded as one of the greatest exhibitions of reverse swing in modern-day Test cricket.

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In the 2011 series, after his first innings returns of 23.5-6-87-2 in the opening Test at Lord’s – a pedestrian show by his standards – he surprised the Indian batsmen on the final day to claim a five-wicket haul. Starting the final day at 80 for one, India fancied their chances of thwarting England’s bid for victory. But Anderson claimed the wickets of Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, and Suresh Raina to make a draw into a win.

After the low Test series against New Zealand this year, Anderson has sounded a warning to his opponents with career-best figures of 7-19 for his county side, Lancashire, against Kent. Those wickets also helped him cross the 1000-wicket landmark in first-class cricket. Now, another three Test wickets will take him past Anil Kumble and into third on the all-time list, with only Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and Shane Warne (708) above him.

The Big Battle against India is still on.

To get there, he will once again target Kohli, who he has dismissed five times in 36 innings. But neither the best fast bowler of the world’s premier batsman can claim bragging rights in that contest yet. Anderson had the measure of Kohli in the 2014 home series, removing him four times and making him average 13.4 with the bat. In that series, Kohli didn’t manage a fifty in 10 innings.

This time around, Anderson will be happy that the series begins at Trent Bridge. Nottingham is his favorite hunting ground with 64 wickets in 10 Tests, having taken his most five wicket-hauls (seven) and two of his three 10-wicket hauls there, average 19.63 at a strike rate of 42.56, which are much better than his overall career numbers of 26.67 and 56.39. His pace may have dropped a bit, but Kohli and his men will know that they can’t let their guards drop against the ageless warrior.