James Anderson reveals how Virat Kohli made subtle alterations to his batting technique

Prior to the first Test of the ongoing Test series between England and India, Virat Kohli didn’t have an overwhelming record in Tests on English soil. Previously, he toured the nation back in 2014 but flattered to deceive. The Delhi-born cricketer came on to his own yesterday at Edgbaston and scored 149 runs from 225 balls to bail his team out after India lost wickets in heaps during the middle phase of their innings.

Before the start of the match, English fast-bowler James Anderson was speculated to trouble the Delhi-born cricketer. Previously, the speedster had dismissed Virat five times in 12 matches. However, Kohli played him out without resorting to any undue risks. Recently, Anderson spoke about the minor adjustments, Virat made to his batting technique in order to counter the pacers.

I just thought I’d try to keep it as simple as possible

“Ben Stokes came up to me and said Kohli was batting out of his crease but for me, that doesn’t really change a huge amount. Essentially, I’m just trying to hit that fourth-stump area,” Anderson was quoted as saying by Sky Sports.

“He was still going hard at balls outside off-stump which made me feel in the game. I tried the odd inswinger but the breeze was going in the opposite direction, helping the outswinger, so it wasn’t going a huge amount in. I just thought I’d try to keep it as simple as possible,” the fast-bowler added.

Virat came to bat after Sam Curran picked up Murali Vijay. He was presented with three lifelines courtesy of dropped catches by Dawid Malan and Jos Buttler. He made full use of the opportunities to carve his maiden Test century in the country. He played expertly with the tailenders by farming the strike. Leg-break bowler Adil Rashid eventually picked him up when the batsman mistimed a cut.

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