James Anderson: "I used to try and learn from Zaheer Khan"
English pacer James Anderson said on Wednesday that Indian legend Zaheer Khan was one of his inspirations as a fast-bowler in aspects like using the reverse swing and hiding the ball in the run-up.
Anderson made his Test debut in 2003, three years after Khan. While the Indian retired with over 600 wickets across formats in 2014, Anderson is still plying his trade at 41-years-old.
Khan was one of the best exponents of the old ball, inspiring a generation of young Indian cricketers to try his methods of reverse swing and the knuckle ball.
Anderson spoke about how he has been inspired by Zaheer Khan's bowling and technique.
"For me, Zaheer Khan was someone I used to watch a lot to try and learn from," Anderson told JioCinema. "How he used the reverse swing, how he covered the ball when he ran into bowl, that's something I tried to sort of develop on the back of playing against him quite a few times here."
After competing with Khan for a decade, Anderson is going head-to-head with the new leader of India's pace attack - Jasprit Bumrah. The Englishman praised the 30-year-old, complimenting his accuracy and calling him "world-class".
"With someone of his quality you expect that standard from him. You know that reverse swing can play a big part in India and he's a great exponent of it. He's got good pace and is very accurate, very consistent," he said. "That yorker we saw to Ollie Pope, he's got that up his sleeve as well. It's not a fluke that he's got to number one in the world. He's a world-class bowler and from our point of view we weren't surprised that he put up a performance like that."
Bumrah was the highest wicket-taker of the ongoing Test series between the two countries until the fourth Test, where he was rested. He currently has 17 wickets from three Tests at an average of 13.65. Anderson also has eight wickets at 34.38.
"I don't feel like I'm 41 years and 200 days old" - James Anderson
Speaking about his fitness, Anderson said that he felt good enough to compete with all the youngsters on his team, some of whom weren't even born when he made his Test debut.
"Yeah, I guess you do look at things like that, but to be honest, I just go with the feel of me and my body. I don't feel like I'm 41 years and 200 days old. You know, I still feel young. I can keep up with the young guys in training. I can still bowl the speeds that I want to, I can still deliver the skills that I want to. So, for me that's the most important thing. Age is just a number and it's pretty irrelevant from my thought process," he said.
The fifth India-England Test will begin on February 7 in Dharamshala.