ANDERSON VS KOHLI

Vaughan labels Anderson's comments on Kohli "naive"

by Cricbuzz Staff • Published on

Anderson was greeted with some angry words by R Ashwin when he made his way to the middle on the final day of the Test. © Cricbuzz

Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, said James Anderson's comments with regards to Virat Kohli on the fourth day of the fourth Test in Mumbai were "naive". Kohli, the Indian Test captain, had scored his third double century in the year at the Wankhede Stadium to effectively bat England out of the game, given their struggle against the Indian bowlers, but the veteran paceman publicly questioned Kohli's solving of his "technical deficiencies" that the England bowlers had exploited in their 2014 home series.

"I'm not sure he's changed," said Anderson on Sunday of Kohli. "I just think any technical deficiencies he's got aren't in play out here. 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. "He's a very good player of spin and if you're not bang on the money and don't take your chances, he'll punish you," added Anderson, who has four wickets at an average of 53.50 in the current series.

Anderson was greeted with some angry words by R Ashwin when he made his way to the middle on the final day of the Test. Vaughan said Anderson put to use little of his 14-year career experience when dealing with the Indian media. "Jimmy came out last night and showed no experience with the Indian press," Vaughan told the BBC on Monday (December 12). "You know what you're getting with the Indian press - they'll make one small comment into a huge headline.

"For him to say Virat's technique's not changed and it's just the conditions here that suit his style of play - it's so naive."

However, the comments made little difference to the Indian Test skipper, who has been in fine form in the series, having belted his way to 640 runs averaging 128 in four Tests, and with one to play.

"For the first time I was trying to calm things down in the middle at a time when James Anderson is involved," Kohli said after India's innings-and-36-run win, which sealed the series for the hosts, leading 3-0. "Ashwin wasn't pleased with what (Anderson) said in the press and I didn't even know about it. He told me on the ground.

"So I didn't know what to make of it. I was laughing about it. Ashwin wasn't too impressed and he let him know without using any bad words, honestly," Kohli said. "I think (Ashwin) told me he was pretty disappointed with what he said and it is important to accept defeat as it is. Later on, I told James these things happen and let's move on," added the Indian captain.

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