Virat Kohli lauds James Anderson for entering 600 club: One of the best I have faced

The rivalry remains on the field, off the field great players have mutual admiration for each other. This was on display on Tuesday when India captain Virat Kohli congratulated England pacer James Anderson for his “outstanding achievement” of taking 600 Test wickets.

James Anderson had to literally wait for 2 days because of rain get into the history book Test cricket. When the play started for the first time on Day 5, the only wish every cricket fan had was to see James Anderson take that red cherry in his hand and show it towards the camera in the absence of crowd due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The moment came same after the start as Azhar Ali fell as the 600th pray of James Anderson. Social media was abuzz after Anderson’s feat.

Virat Kohli, who is currently in UAE, was one of the first one’s to congratulate James Anderson, the bowler who dismissed him 4 times during his horror run in 2014 England series. Kohli admitted that Anderson is one of the best bowlers he has ever faced.

Congratulations @jimmy9 for this outstanding achievement of 600 wickets. Definitely one of the best bowlers I’ve faced.

— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) August 25, 2020

Kohli in the 2014 tour of England had scored a mere 134 runs in the 10 innings. There were war of words as well. Before the start of 2018 Test series in England Virat Kohli had stated that he intends to enjoy his time in England rather than obsess over his individual form as long as the team does well.

It doesn’t matter if he gets runs or not? I think he is telling lies there,” Anderson had said in reply to Virat Kohli’s statement.

During the 5th Test of the series Virat Kohli and James Anderson had an heated altercation after umpire decided to turn down one of Anderson’s lbw appeal against Kohli.

Anderson was frustrated with Kumar Dharmasena’s decision and that led to an exchange of words between the umpire and the bowler and later between Anderson and Kohli.

Including the delivery on which the appeal was made, Anderson had bowled 254 deliveries to Kohli in the series without dismissing him even once.

During the same tour Virat Kohli had praised Anderson for his “relenteless” attitude after he took his 564th Test wicket to break Glenn McGrath record for most wicket by any pacer in the format.

“It has been fun. We haven’t had any sort of arguments through the series. It has been nice and competitive. We have had a word here and there, it has been sarcastic…nothing too serious. As a cricketer after a stage, you want to be pushed, you want to be tested and guys like him test you all the time. He has been very relentless with his skills and that is why he stands at the top of the fast bowlers leaderboard and he deserves it totally,” Kohli had said.

Fans are hoping for the two greats of the game to play a Test cricket against each other in early 2021.