CHENNAI : Age is just a number for Jimmy Anderson. When most cricketers at 39 years prefer a coaching job or a commentary assignment, Anderson, as England’s spearhead, is sweating it out in the English sun against Virat Kohli and Co. Anderson had an injury scare just the day before the Lords’s Test began, having undergone a scan for stiffness in a quad. But the Lancashire-born player lived up to his reputation as one of the finest fast bowlers of the game by picking up his seventh fifer at the Lord’s ground.
He also had a word of praise for his captain Joe Root, who is in stellar form and backed the 30-year old to break Alastair Cook’s record Test tally. “There’s something that is extra bit special about Lord’s, certainly for me. I do love it here. It just seemed to bring the best out of me,” said Anderson.
Anderson also became the oldest pacer to take a five-for in Tests since 1951 and hoped he would get one more chance to play at his favourite venue. “The last few times I’ve been here you do think ‘is this the last time I’m going to play here?’ Hopefully, it’s not my last time here or my last time on the honours board,” he said. “Our strategy against India was to bowl as full as possible, but if you missed your length even slightly, it was getting driven,’’ he added.
“I think it (India’s total) was testament to how they batted, especially KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma. They put you under pressure. They left well, defended well. I think it was a case of a little bit of luck as well.”
Root surpassed former England captain Graham Gooch’s tally of 8,900 Test runs. Jimmy Anderson believed that his skipper could make it the top of the list by surpassing Cook’s tally of 12,472 runs. “Absolutely (surpass Cook). Joe has been amazing through his career. With everything that we’ve been through with the pandemic and the pressures on this team, to be able to captain the side and perform the way he has been is nothing short of superhuman.”