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James Anderson (Source: Twitter)
England will aim to script history in India when they take on the Asian giants in a five-match Test series starting on January 25. No team has won a Test series on Indian soil since 2013. Notably, England were the last to leave India happily after winning 2-1 under Sir Alastair Cook in the 2012/13 season. As they aim to end their over-a-decade-long quest, veteran pacer James Anderson shares their bowling strategy.
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Anderson, who will embark on his sixth tour of India later this month, believes the conditions in India may force the team to change their bowling strategy. The 41-year-old acknowledged the possibility of reverse swing playing a major role on Indian pitches. Admitting that winning in India will be a challenge, Anderson suggested that England may open up their bowling attack with two spinners.
"Reverse swing will play a big part. There might be occasions where we don’t open with a seamer. We might open with two spinners. Your role changes a huge amount then, you come on third or fourth change with set batsmen in. That is the challenge of playing in India," the right-arm pacer told The Telegraph.
Anderson happy to take mentoring role as a senior figure
Anderson is eyeing to join the elite list of players who have played 200 Test matches. The Lancashire cricketer has so far represented England in 183 Test matches and taken 690 wickets at an average of 26.42. Being the senior-most player in the team, he is looking forward to passing on his knowledge and experience to the new bowlers.
"That has been my role over the recent past anyway is stepping into that mentoring role as a senior figure. I have a duty to pass on information to people. We have bowlers who have not bowled in India before, so it will be a different challenge for them. We have to help where we can," Anderson said.
"There are only four seamers going so we will not be expecting to bowl a huge amount of seam. It is just a slightly different role. You might not bowl the overs you do in England but they are still important," he added.
Meanwhile, Anderson does not have an impressive record on spin-friendly pitches in Asia. Out of his 690 wickets, 34 have come in India in 13 Tests at an average of 29.32. His best test figures in India are 4/40, back in 2006.