Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], February 9 (ANI): England skipper Joe Root on Tuesday heaped praise on James Anderson and said the pacer’s amazing spell reminded him a little of Andrew Flintoff’s heroics in 2005.
Anderson, in the 27th over, bowled brilliantly and picked the wickets of Shubman Gill and Ajinkya Rahane. He finished with the figures of 3/17 during India’s second innings.
England won the first Test against India by 227 runs here on Tuesday.
“It reminded me a little bit of Flintoff in ’05 and the impact of that over to Ponting and Langer, but in the context of this game it was huge,” Root said in the post-match press conference.
“When you are looking around, in big moments in Test matches, naturally you expect that from him and the likes of Ben Stokes, coming on and taking the wicket of Virat Kohli. Big-game players stand up and do special things. It is a great example for young guys around,” he added.
Back in 2005, Flintoff’s fiery spell had helped England defeat Australia by 2 runs in Edgbaston. The former player had picked the wickets of Langer and Ponting in the 13th over. Flintoff had finished with the figures of 4/79 during Australia’s second innings.
England’s winning start against India in their ICC World Test Championship series has kept alive the visiting side’s hopes of making the final of the nine-team competition.
The victory at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday has lifted England to first place and 70.2 percentage points on the points table and they’ve improved their chances of securing one of the three series results in their favour that could see them through to the final – 3-1, 3-0 or 4-0.
New Zealand has already qualified for the final winning 70.0 per cent of their matches (with no other series scheduled) while India and Australia remain in contention for the other place along with England. (ANI)