England pace ace James Anderson feels that the hosts can take inspiration from India’s amazing fightback from being 98/5 and ending up scoring 416 runs in the first innings and do well, as Jasprit Bumrah led with the ball to reduce England to 84/5 at the end of second day’s play.
Rishabh Pant (146) and Ravindra Jadeja (104) had, however, changed the complexion of the game as the duo shared 222 runs for the sixth wicket to take India to 416 in their first innings. Anderson was the hero with the ball scoring his 32nd five-wicket haul in Tests.
"We're in a similar situation to them, and that gives us the confidence we can do something similar. We've all got a job to do down the order, we've got to put on some big partnerships and put some pressure back on India. I've got a fair feeling our best line of defence will be attack," Anderson said.
Skipper Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow are on the crease and England may be reminded of how the duo bailed the team out from a similar situation against New Zealand.
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"The way we've got ourselves out of sticky situations in the last few weeks has been by trying to put pressure back on the opposition, and I don't see this being any different. We want to score, we want to move the game forward, and that's what we'll try and do,” Anderson added.
James Anderson felt that England bowled pretty well, but lauded Rishabh Pant for his blazing century that gave India an advantage after being asked to bat first in overcast conditions.
"I actually thought we bowled well yesterday morning and into the afternoon and then Pant played an amazing innings. He's extremely talented, he's got all the shots and he's not afraid to play them, so he's a difficult guy to bowl at,” Anderson added.
Anderson was also sympathetic towards his bowling partner Stuart Broad, who went for a world record 35 runs in an over, with 29 runs coming off the bat of Jasprit Bumrah.
"On another day one of those top edges goes straight to hand, and if that happens no one talks about the over. The way it went was pretty unlucky I thought. Sometimes it can be easier to bowl to top-order batsmen, I remember a few balls I bowled to Mohammed Siraj today where he tried to hit two out of the ground and then played a perfect back-foot defensive to the next one.
So, it can be tricky to get into a rhythm against them. You've just got to back yourself that your best ball will get them out eventually,” Anderson signed off.
(PTI inputs)
