James Anderson’s war of attrition in India is still reaping England rewards in its final battle

The game was still in the balance when India returned on the second morning with Yashasvi Jaiswal still in. Shot out for less than 400 in the first half hour would, at the time, have seemed to give England a good shot, but a mad hour from Jaiswal and R Ashwin could’ve taken the game away. Two balls into Anderson’s new ball spell, he’d beaten Jaiswal’s bat once and found his edge the second time. Three overs and at least two close calls later, Ashwin was out, nicked behind off an Anderson special which just took an edge.

But it was the battle against Jaiswal which defined the spell. Almost as if he’d taken Jaiswal’s confidence and the ease with which he reached his century yesterday as a personal insult, Anderson bowled six uninterrupted overs to him. The runs dried up, seam, swing and 22 years worth of knowledge going into the battle. Finally, Jaiswal cracked. Nowhere near the ball, attempting a slog to release the pressure, he was caught in the deep.

– 25 overs
– 4 maidens
– 47 runs
– 3 wickets

41 years old and still doing the business at the very top level – incredible from James Anderson 🔥#INDvENG pic.twitter.com/WC2LoDkYGD

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) February 3, 2024

It ended a remarkable innings, but the breakdown of where Jaiswal scored those 209 runs shows a clear disparity. Anderson bowled 67 balls to Jaiswal throughout his innings, off which Jaiswal scored 17 runs. The other 192 came off the 223 balls he faced from spinners. Anderson’s seven-over spell this morning, as the only seam option, produced two wickets for 17 runs. The upshot, India out for less than 400 before Lunch.

Coming into a five-match series in the subcontinent, at 41 years old, constant reminders that two of your teammates weren’t born when you first played for England, without your new-ball partner for over a decade, and off the back of an underwhelming home summer, it’s hard to see a reason behind the continued hunger for wickets. Maybe it’s the Bazball effect, maybe a refusal to accept it’s over, but maybe it’s also that – in relation to other fast bowlers – India has been a relatively fruitful hunting ground for him.

Back in 2005/06, Anderson took 4-40 in his first innings in India. One of them was Rahul Dravid, now sitting overseeing proceedings from the India dugout. After a lone Test on that tour and a middling series in 2008/09, 2012/13 marked one of the greatest successes of his career. England’s series win in 2012/13 is often spoken about in terms of Monty Panesar’s impact, Swann’s brilliance, or Alastair Cook’s runs, but after the final Test, it was Anderson whom MS Dhoni singled out as the difference between the two sides.

Anderson took 12 wickets across the series, no other seamer took more than four. Across six separate series in India, he averages 28.37. Narrow that down to series from 2018 onwards, his average drops to 19.48, his best of any overseas country in the world in that period apart from South Africa. No touring fast bowler has taken more wickets than he has this century, and of those who have bowled in more than ten innings, only Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Matthew Hoggard average less.

Despite his 37 wickets in India, it remains the only country he’s played in – apart from the UAE – where he hasn’t taken a five-wicket-haul. Bumrah’s spell today was an indication of why. Anderson has thrived on attrition in India, on squeezing every last ounce out of a surface and a ball he can, of drying up an end while all too often spinners leak runs at the other. His spell against Jaiswal this morning encapsulated the nearly two-decade-long grind Anderson has put into India.

Less than six hours later and having been sent out to face Bumrah in the dying overs of the day, he was bowling to Jaiswal again. It could be a long day in the field for England today and there are three more Tests to come. England have three spinners who’ve collectively played three Tests before this one charged to rattle through India and cause another upset. But pulling the focus away from spin, two exceptional fast bowlers showed the importance of their craft in completely different ways on day two.