James Anderson turned in one of the finest spells of his distinguished career to lead England to an unforgettable 227-run victory against India, then nonchalantly claimed his reverse-swing masterclass was nothing “out of the ordinary”.
With England chasing nine fifth-day wickets to secure the first Test in Chennai, Anderson tore the heart from the Indian line-up in a five-over stint of three wickets for just six runs.
Jack Leach spun his way to figures of four for 76 but Anderson defied conventional logic around the role of seamers at the conclusion of matches in the sub-continent as he got a wearing ball to hoop in devastating fashion.
“As the batter who spent the most time out there on that wicket I felt I had the best gauge of it,” he said.
“I didn’t want to give India any chance of winning the game. It would have been damaging if we’d lost. All we needed to do was be relentless with the areas we bowled and the wicket would do the rest for us.”
Root will take immense satisfaction from inflicting India’s first home defeat since 2017 – their only setback in their last 35 outings – but with three matches to go was eager to put the achievement in perspective.
“We’ve set a benchmark now and have something to work from and compare ourselves to. But we can’t be happy with what we’ve done,” he said.
“They have some wonderful individual players that will be hurting right now and will want to prove a point when they come to play again. But I’m proud of the performance and to sit here 1-0 up feels good.”
