41-year-old England pacer James Anderson continues to defy the laws and strains of age, especially on a fast bowler, as he bowled India skipper Rohit Sharma on the morning of Day 3 in the ongoing Test match in Visakhapatnam.
With India having a lead of 171 runs at the start of the day, England needed a good start to keep the hosts in check. And their most experienced bowler gave Ben Stokes a dream start with a dream ball to knock over Rohit Sharma’s off-stump out of the ground.
This dismissal of Rohit Sharma from James Anderson was reminiscent of his dismissal by Kagiso Rabada in Centurion a few weeks ago: the ball swinging in, pitching on middle, getting Rohit to play, and seaming away to beat the outside edge and clatter into the off-stump.
Just the change here was that Anderson has lower pace than Rabada and this pitch in Vizag is nowhere near as seam-friendly as the one which Rabada bowled on in Centurion. It required the sorcery and incredible skillset of James Anderson to draw Rohit to play a drive – which Sharma should have ideally looked to play with a straight bat rather than a slanted one – with a slightly fuller length.
The ball nipped away off the pitch just enough to beat the outside edge, but also not so much to miss the off-stump, which was sent cartwheeling, before James Anderson had his arms out like wings in his celebration.
Watch: James Anderson bowled Rohit Sharma with a dream delivery
![[Video] James Anderson Bowls A Dream Delivery To Rohit Sharma](https://thecricketlounge.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/shardul-86.webp)
Ageless Anderson bowls Rohit Sharma with a beaut 🤌#INDvENG #BazBowled #IDFCFirstBankTestsSeries #JioCinemaSports pic.twitter.com/YtdoXDCdA2
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) February 4, 2024
In his next over, the 41-year-old also dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal, the double-centurion in this game. A full ball swinging away much outside the off-stump. The left-hander went for a big drive but edged it to Joe Root at first slip.
Rohit Sharma, meanwhile, was trolled on Twitter for another low score in Test cricket:
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