'I'd back him to score runs anywhere in the world at any time' - Graeme Swann hopeful that Virat Kohli will come good during England Tests

England and India are all set to lock horns for the first Test match that starts on August 4. However, the high octane series has been in the chatter for a long and the cricketing fraternity has been predicting a lot of things about it.

Virat Kohli had struggled against Anderson in the 2014 tour where the bowler scalped his wicket four times. But Kohli turned it over in the 2018 tour of England and has constantly improved his game as per the conditions. Opening up about the highly anticipated contest between Kohli and Anderson, Graeme Swann asserted that Kohli used to get out to Anderson but the batter has evolved by working on himself and can dominate the game everywhere he plays.

“The thing with Virat Kohli is, the last time he came here absolutely dominated the series. And again, to put the negative stand there and say ‘Oh Jimmy Anderson got his out for fun’… Jimmy Anderson ‘used to’ get him out for fun in England and it was embarrassing. Virat Kohli went away, worked on his game to an extent that he didn’t get out at all to Jimmy and he dominated in England. I am sure he’s watching the videos, remembering his techniques against that English attack and I would back Virat Kohli to score runs anywhere in the world at any time,” Swann told Sportskeeda Cricket’s YouTube channel in an exclusive interview.

Graeme Swann pins hope on Virat’s good performance in the UK

It has been long since Virat Kohli has scored a century and the cricket on-lookers are eagerly waiting for one. The team has played a warm-up match against the County Select XI and that would have helped them to judge the English conditions well. Kohli’s contributions to the side would be vital to enable India a good start to their second cycle of the WTC. Graeme Swann termed Kohli as a world-class player and opined that he will have a great series.

“The caveat that comes with being one of the ‘Big Four’, you are expected to score a big hundred either every Test match or every other Test match. That’s by your fans, your teammates [but] it’s hard work to do that. When you think that Virat hasn’t played for six months almost and he’s been in Covid bubbles, to come out with the same expectations in a one-off Test against New Zealand… I think he still scored 70 runs in the game.He’s going to have five matches against England and a truly world-class player like Virat will be fine and he’ll come out flying in that series. He might not do that in the first Test, but by the end of the series, he’ll be one of the Big Four again.” Swann added