Anderson surpasses Kumble to become the third highest wicket taker

It was another curtailed day in Nottingham and James Anderson, who started the first ball of the 46th over on Thursday, finished his over finally. He bowled his first ball in the second session, next two balls in the third and finished his over on day three. Anderson’s lengthiest over lasted across three sessions.

More than Anderson, KL Rahul has to be credited highly. Even after so much of intervals and a major collapse, the opener’s concentration wasn’t budged. He looked well and good for a century, but a little lapse cost his wicket and he fell short by 16 runs. He was equally supported by Ravindra Jadeja who himself got to a well-constructed half-century. More than anything, the Indian tail wagged vigorously as the last three batsmen added 48 valuable runs that took them to a lead of 95. Ollie Robinson bagged his maiden five wicket haul. In reply, England openers weathered the early storm before rain washed out the rest of the day. As always there were few notable stats from the third day, here are list of those:

Ravindra Jadeja reaches new heights
There was a lot of scrutiny over Jadeja’s selection over Ravi Ashwin. But, all was rested with a brilliant knock of 58. On route his innings of 58, Jadeja became the fifth Indian player to register 2000 runs and bag 200+ wickets. Overall, he was the 21st player to achieve this feat in Tests. Among those 21, Jadeja was the fifth fastest to the landmark overall and the third fastest Indian.

Rahul’s grand return
Rahul’s return would have been awe-inspiring if he had got those 16 more runs. Nevertheless, the opener was the standout performer amongst the Indian batting contingent. To score his 84 runs, Rahul batted 214 balls. This was the second innings in which Rahul had batted for 200+ balls in England as an opener. He joined an elite list of Indian openers to bat 200+ balls on English soil multiple times. Sunil Gavaskar has batted over 200+ balls thrice. KL Rahul, Rahul Dravid and Murali Vijay have done it twice. The only difference is, KL Rahul achieved this in successive innings. He is the only Asian opener to face 200+ balls in successive innings in England.

Anderson pips past Anil Kumble
The fast bowling juggernaut of England adds another big milestone to his name. Anderson became the third highest wicket taker after he bagged Rahul. Irony is, the pacer bagged a Karnataka batsman (KL Rahul) to go past another Karnataka bowler (Anil Kumble). With a total of 621 wickets to his name, Anderson now is chasing the 700 mark. Which landmark would be the first, 700 wickets or 200 matches, is to be seen.

Anderson’s liking towards India

Before the start of the series, Anderson had 118 wickets against India. Only two bowlers have bagged 100 wickets against India in Tests and Anderson leads among the two. In the first Test, he bagged a four for and extended the lead to 122. This was his 11th innings in which he had bagged four or more wickets in Tests, which is the joint most for a bowler. The spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan also has 11 four plus wicket hauls.