Video: Watch the entire sledging incident between Virat Kohli and James Anderson during Lord's Test
Tempers flared between Virat Kohli and James Anderson on Day 4 of the second Test between India and England at Lord's on Sunday.
Tempers flared between Virat Kohli and James Anderson on Day 4 of the second Test between India and England at Lord's on Sunday. During India's second innings, Kohli and Anderson had verbal run-in at the non-striker's end. The two had a go at each other, not once, not twice but thrice in quick succession.
The seeds of the heated exchange between Kohli and Anderson were planted late evening of the third day's play when India quick Jasprit Bumrah had peppered the veteran England pacer with a barrage of bouncers in one over. Bumrah bowled four no-balls, making it a 10-ball over to Anderson as the two were involved in a fiery showdown. After stumps, Anderson was clearly miffed at Bumrah as the players from the two teams headed back.
Coming back to the Kohli-Anderson duel, the India captain did not back down from giving the England fast bowler a piece of his mind upon being provoked. With Anderson returning to his run-up, the England quick and Kohli had three different exchanges, all three of which were captured on the stump mic and could be heard and seen in the video below.
That was not it. During England’s second innings, Kohli was at it again, mouthing words to Jos Buttler and Ollie Robinson while they were batting, hoping to save the Test. However, after the match got over with Siraj dismissing Anderson for a three-ball duck, Kohli was the first player from the Indian camp to walk up to the veteran pacer and shake his hand.
This is only the second chapter of the Kohli vs Anderson battle from this Test series, and with three more Tests to go, this rivalry is far from over. Anderson drew first blood of this face-off dismissing Kohli for a first-ball duck in the Nottingham Test, the sixth time he has got the India captain out in Tests.
During India’s tour of England in 2014, Anderson had the wood over Kohli, dismissing him four times in five Tests, while getting his wicket once during 2016’s England tour of India. In 2018 though, Kohli excelled against Anderson, not giving his wicket to the England quick even once. During the post-match presentation ceremony, Kohli admitted the verbal volleys between the players of the two teams served as a motivating factor.
"The way we played in the second innings after being put under pressure – Jasprit and Shami were outstanding. We had the belief we can get them out in 60 overs. The tension in the field in our second innings, what happened there, helped us," Kohli had said.