At Lord’s, where he is playing his 188th and final Test match for England against the West Indies, the legendary fast bowler James Anderson shared his experience of bowling to Sachin Tendulkar. Anderson revealed that throughout his long career, he enjoyed bowling to the great Indian batsman Sachin the most.
‘Sachin is the Best Batsman’
Although Anderson has dismissed Tendulkar nine times, he admitted that he could never devise a specific plan against the Indian master blaster. Anderson said, “I think Sachin Tendulkar is the best batsman. I don’t recall having a particular game plan against Sachin. Once he came to the crease, I just thought, ‘I can’t bowl a bad ball here,’ such was his caliber. He was also crucial for India. If you got him out in India, the entire atmosphere of the ground changed. He was a massive wicket.”
In a recent interview, Anderson praised Tendulkar, saying, “You always try to bowl your best ball, aiming for the off-stump, hoping he would miss the straight ball. In England, he might hit it once or twice, but generally, I tried to get him LBW early. I had some success against him, and he had success against me too, scoring a lot of runs off my bowling.”
Anderson’s Praise for Sachin
Tendulkar represented India for 24 years, while Anderson has set a benchmark for fast bowlers, playing Test cricket for 21 years and becoming the first bowler to reach 700 wickets, a milestone he achieved earlier this year during the tour of India. He said, “You always try to bowl your best ball, aiming for the off-stump, and hope that he (Sachin) misses the straight one. In England, he could hit it a couple of times, but usually, I tried to get him LBW early. I had some success against him, and he had a lot of success against me as well.”
Performance Against Each Other
The right-arm fast bowler Anderson has taken 149 wickets in 39 Tests against India, with six five-wicket hauls. On the other hand, Tendulkar scored 2,535 runs against England in 32 Tests at an average of 51.73, including seven centuries and 13 half-centuries. Anderson also mentioned his innings of 81 runs against India at Nottingham in July 2014 as one of his proudest achievements. He said, “I am most proud of scoring 81 runs against India at Trent Bridge. I should probably pick a wicket or a bowling performance, but scoring 81 with the bat is something I still can’t believe I did.”