England were dealt a dagger blow to their hopes of coming away with a consolation victory in the fifth Test at Chennai after news emerged that their pace spearhead, James Anderson, has been ruled out with a sore knee.
Alastair Cook, England’s skipper, confirmed the news, saying, “He's just sore from the game and not worth the risk with his past.”
Anderson’s had a tumultuous time in India over the past couple of weeks. First came the comments he made about Virat Kohli, which drew a heavily mixed reaction in the media, with some former players lambasting him for the same.
Anderson had said, “I’m not sure he’s changed. I just think any technical deficiencies he's got aren't in play out here. The wickets just take that out of the equation. We had success against him in England, but the pace of the pitches over here just take any flaws he has out of the equation. There's not that pace in the wicket to get the nicks, like we did against him in England with a bit more movement. Pitches like this suit him down to the ground.”
His words caused a lot of trouble given the year that Kohli has had, plundering oppositions to the ground in all formats of the game.
The very next day, Anderson had to face the ire of Ravichandran Ashwin on the field, as the Indian spinner didn’t take his comments very well and took it upon himself to make the Englishman known of the fact.
Most notably, countryman Michael Vaughn and former Pakistan cricketer Inzamum-ul-Haq called Anderson out on his naivete.
Now, having just been ruled out of the final Test at Chennai, Anderson doesn’t have the time to get redemption, to prove the doubters wrong, to show everyone that he had a point.
Anderson had absolutely dominated Virat Kohli in the Summer of 2014, where Kohli’s flaws were found out. But in the ongoing series in India,Kohli certainly has had the upper hand, and he cemented his superiority with a sublime double-hundred in the 4th Test at Mumbai.
Without Anderson, England’s bowling attack looks extremely inexperienced, considering the fact that Stuart Broad might not be fit as well. With the practice pitches damaged in Chennai, Broad had to have a bowl elsewhere in the city and the English team management will take a late call on him.
India will look to end the series on a high before taking a break during the Christmas and New-Year period.
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