James Anderson vs Virat Kohli was touted as one of the biggest battles of the ongoing five-Test series between England and India.
The skilful English pacer had been extremely successful against Kohli when India toured the Old Blighty in 2014. With a nagging line outside off-stump, he was able to draw edges at will.
Anderson managed to dismiss Kohli four times during the series, in which the latter managed just 134 runs in 10 innings at a paltry average of 13.4.
Cut to 2018, Kohli has completely turned it around and it is safe to say the India captain has conquered the final frontier. With 593 runs from nine innings, the 29-year-old is head and shoulders above the rest of the batsmen in the ongoing series.
The most striking aspect of Kohli's performance in the ongoing tour is that he has not gotten out to Anderson in nine innings. The ball has been doing quite a bit and has made life difficult for the batsmen, but the touring captain has managed to find ways to score runs and loads of them.
Anderson has bowled 270 balls at Kohli, beaten him 26 times, drawn edges on 29 occasions but hasn't dismissed the right-hander yet, according to ESPN Cricinfo.
On a couple of ocassions, Anderson was let down by his team's slip-catchers as well.
However, during the second day's play of the ongoing fifth Test, the veteran pacer believed he got his man out when he trapped Kohli in front with an inswinger when the latter was batting on 16.
Anderson and his teammates came up with a loud appeal but umpire Kumar Dharmasena refused to raise his finger. They even pleaded before going for the Decision Review System (DRS).
With no bat involved, the ball was hitting the stumps but the tracker showed that the impact was marginally outside the off-stump. The decision thus stayed with the on-field umpire and Kohli survived.
To add to Anderson's frustration, Kohli flicked the following ball to the boundary.
After completing the eventful over, Anderson had snatched his jumper back from Dharmasena and kept murmuring on the way back to his fielding position.
Dharmasena wasn't impressed with Anderson's gesture and had called England captain Joe Root to let him know about the same.
Kohli joined the discussion and had an exchange with Anderson with some gestures. Umpire Joel Wilson was forced to interrupt and calm the situation, which he managed to, successfully.
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— Gentlemen's Game (@DRVcricket) September 8, 2018
— Gentlemen's Game (@DRVcricket) September 8, 2018
Kohli was eventually dismissed on 49 by Ben Stokes as India finished the day on 174 for 6, trialing England's first innings total by 158 runs.
Speaking on the incident during the post-day press conference, England's top-scorer Jos Buttler said: "Virat Kohli is one of the best player in the world if not the best at the minute and Jimmy Anderson is England's greatest ever bowler. So as a matchup for fans and for players like us, it is awesome to watch.
"I think the two of them are immensely competitive. Jimmy has been particularly unlucky, he has created a lot of chances and did get really close and it has been great to watch."
