IND vs ENG 5th Test, Day 1: Kohli vs Anderson, is this the last time we see the GOATs collide?

Edgbaston | The build-up to this series has been immense with England beating New Zealand 3-0 on their home turf. For the past few years, the build-up to the India and England series has always been around two greats of our times, Virat Kohli and James Anderson who are referred to as their generation’s GOATs.

It all started in 2014 when Virat toured England with the Indian contingency. The former Indian captain had an extremely dismal series and was dismissed by Anderson 4 times in 5 Test matches. This is the tour that has transformed Kohli’s career and he has accepted it time and again. 

India toured England once again in 2018 with Virat as the captain of the Indian cricket team. In his prime, Kohli had prepared especially for James Anderson with the 2014 series on the back of his mind. The skipper led from the front and denied his wicket for the entire series. Anderson now knew, he was facing a different Kohli, a Kohli who was determined, a Kohli who was at the peak of his fitness and his game.

The battle went on when India once again visited the United Kingdom and this time around Anderson stamped his class straightaway as he dismissed Kohli with the first ball that he faced in the series. Kohli was quick to respond and he did not let Anderson outplay him and got out to him only once.

With one test match remaining, Kohli will face Anderson yet again and this might be the last time that we are watching both these legends lock horns with each other.

England Playing XI: Alex Lees, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Sam Billings, Matty Potts, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach, James Anderson

India Playing XI: Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah