James Anderson, the England fast bowler, is currently taking part in his 188th and the final Test match of his career against the West Indies at Lord’s in London. When the 41-year-old was asked about his best batter, he named the former India captain, Sachin Tendulkar, talking about how there was no scope of bowling a bad ball to him.
On the first day of his final Test match against West Indies, James Anderson picked up one wicket in the first innings, which was also the 701st scalp in his Test career, trapping Jayden Seales in front of the stumps. Notably, in March of 2024, James Anderson completed 700 wickets in Tests at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamshala, dismissing Kuldeep Yadav caught behind the stumps.
During his interview with Sky Sports, James Anderson was asked about the best batter he played against, to which he responded with the name of Sachin Tendulkar. He remarked, “I don’t remember having a specific game plan against Sachin Tendulkar. Once he came on, I would just think that I cannot bowl a bad ball here, he was that kind of player. He was a key for India as well. If you get him out in India, the whole atmosphere, in the ground changes. He was such a big wicket.”
“You just try on bowling your best ball, top of off-stump, the whole time and hope he misses a straight one. In England, he might knick the odd one, but generally, I’d try and get him out LBW early. I had some success against him, but he had success against me as well. He got runs against us quite a lot,” he added.
During his illustrious career, James Anderson, who is the first-ever pacer to get past 700 wickets in the longest format of the game, bowled to Sachin Tendulkar in 23 innings across 14 Test matches, taking his wicket on nine occasions. In his 39 Test appearances against India, the right-arm fast bowler picked up 149 wickets.