HIGHLIGHTS

• Ask Kohli, he will always have doubts against Anderson: Irfan Pathan
• Pathan dwelled on the impact of swing bowling in Test cricket
• Pathan stated that no batsman likes to be up against the moving ball

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan believes that India captain Virat Kohli would never be worried about facing someone like Mitchell Johnson, who has raw pace but he would be on his toes against James Anderson because the veteran English pacer is more likely to swing the ball.

When India toured England in 2014, Anderson was Kohli’s nemesis with the right-arm pacer dismissing the India skipper on four occasions. Kohli could score just 134 runs in his 10 innings. But Kohli came back to England an altogether different batsman in 2018 as he finished the Test series as the top run-scorer with an impressive 593-run tally with two centuries and three fifties to his name.

Pathan stated that no batsman likes to be up against the moving ball as it tests the technique of even the best in the business.

“You ask Virat Kohli, he will never worry about Mitchell Johnson bowling fast because he knows he can come in line, but he will always have doubts about James Anderson. No batsman in the world is comfortable when the ball is moving. The corridor of uncertainty, remember? It will remain open forever,” Pathan wrote in his column for the Playfield Magazine.

“We have seen Rishabh Pant and Jos Buttler playing lap shots and reverse sweeps to Pat Cummins and Jofra Archer. Speed alone cannot guarantee success, because batsmen no longer fear pace. The equipment is so good and bats have become better, one touch and it’s out of the ground feeding off the pace of the ball. You need the skill to survive and trust me, swing is a great skill,” Pathan wrote.