I Wasn't Keen On Bowling, Tried To Tempt Joe Root Into Batting: Anderson After Day's Play

India vs England 2021: A conscious effort to focus on their own game rather than getting into verbal duels helped England bowl out India cheaply in the Headingley Test, fast bowler James Anderson has said.

England "made a conscious effort of trying to focus on us", after Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat in the third Test, said Anderson at the end of the day's play.

The hosts bowled out India before Tea, claiming seven wickets for 22 runs in the space of 89 balls. India had recovered from an early burst from Anderson and were 55 for three wickets when Ajinkya Rahane got out off Ollie Robinson.

Anderson said the England players were conscious of letting slip a similar advantage in the Lord's Test and therefore remained focused on the task.

"There was a bit of chat about that," Anderson said at the end of day's play on Wednesday, acknowledging that England had made a point of "focusing on us and what we do well".

"The first three or four days at Lord's, we played brilliantly, didn't get involved in too much discussion. After that maybe it did affect us a little bit."

On dismissing Kohli for the seventh time in Tests, Anderson said, "We've had some great battles over the years, he's a fantastic player and someone you want to keep quiet. Especially in a five-match series, you know if he gets going then he can be very disruptive. The way we've bowled at him has been very, very good and we've just got to try and keep him quiet as often as we can."

Kohli and Anderson had a verbal exchange in the second Test at Lord's.

Anderson compared his team's performance on Wednesday to the feeling of bowling out Australia for 98 on Boxing Day in Melbourne 11 years ago, before surpassing their score with 10 wickets in hand. "The only difference with Melbourne is that I was keen to bowl there and I wasn't today for some reason," he said.

"I was trying to tempt Joe into batting. I think he was leaning towards a bowl but we'll never know, it was taken out of our hands. We didn't know the wicket was going to play, I thought it was pretty good but it was a little bit quicker than we expected and we got a bit of swing early on which helped.

Also Read: : India tour of England, 2021

"The way all the bowlers adjusted to the wicket with the lengths we bowled, the lines we bowled, was brilliant. We've talked about trying to bowl as a unit, as a group, and we just absolutely nailed it today."