The absence of England speedster James Anderson, who has proved to be India’s bete noire over the past 18 years, must have come as a big relief for India’s inexperienced batting line-up, which is gearing up to prove its mettle in the first Test match at Headingley.

Anderson was one bowler who literally kept the best of Indian batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar, whom he had dismissed nine times, and Virat Kohli on their toes. His name is now etched in history with the India-England series trophy now named after him and Sachin Tendulkar as Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.

An age-defying bowler who returned to county cricket to bail out Lancashire a year after his retirement, Anderson was known for his accuracy and ability to swing the ball both ways. He still remembers how he exposed Kohli’s weakness around the off-stump in the 2014 series. “I really exploited Kohli’s weakness outside off-stump, but the next time I played against him in 2018, he’d worked on that, and it was like bowling at a different player,” Anderson said.

A master of reverse swing, Anderson took 149 wickets at an average of 25.47 in the 39 Tests that he played against India. Former England opener Nick Knight said Indian batsmen would be relieved by Anderson’s absence. “England will move forward now. And they have got plenty of talent. But I am sure India would be happy to see Anderson getting retired now,” he said, adding that the timing to rename the trophy after Tendulkar and Anderson could not be better. “It’s a very, very fine tribute. Just the kind of right thing to do in such an iconic series.”

Pointing out that it was very difficult to predict which way Anderson’s ball would go, Knight said, “He had great control of the swinging ball, and there was very little discernible difference between the one that went in and the one that went away. Coupled with his nip and pace, he was a very difficult bowler to face.”