Three cheers to Jimmy!

That James Anderson bowled to Sachin Tendulkar Sourav Ganguly Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman when they were still considered the vanguard of Indian batting and is still tormenting Indian batsmen makes him an army general deserving of every gallantry honourItrsquos almost unbelievable that Anderson 38 has been at our batsmenrsquos throats from 2006 when India were led by Dravid and coached by Greg Chappell We all know how much water has flown under that proverbial bridge since thenThat was also before MS Dhonirsquos men lifted the T20 and 50over cricket World Cups before Virat Kohli had even played under19 cricket for India before Ajinkya Rahane had made his Mumbai debut and prior to Rohit Sharmarsquos inclusion in his city team on the firstclass sceneWith 420 to get for victory India were not favourites to win on Tuesday However the recent sighting of the unwrapping of special steel on the Australian tour prompted cricket fans to hope for a win or draw But Anderson can be devastating on the last day as he has been on several opening days of Test matches lsquoSend the stumps flyingrsquo is the credo of fast bowlers and Anderson lived up to it when he uprooted the furniture of Shubman Gill and Rahane with reverse swing that would have been a highly forgettable sight for India skipper Virat Kohli at the other end Getting Rishabh Pant caught by Joe Root off a leading edge completed a threewicket burst which had India in ruinsHis analysis of 53373 provided enough indication as to who the hero of the day was at that point in time Had he taken another two wickets he would have gone past 30 fifers in 158 Tests but that spell was as crushing as any scintillating fiferThe three dismissals reminded me of his exploits on the last day of the opening Test in the 2011 Pataudi Trophy Like in Chennai earlier this week Anderson at Lordrsquos had only two first innings wickets to show mdash tailenders Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma But on the final day he came up with a second innings spell that made Indiarsquos loss inevitable Using reverse swing as a weapon he dismissed Dravid Laxman and Tendulkar before Harbhajan and topscorer Suresh Raina 78 Experts spotted the improvement after they had worked out that Anderson had not claimed more than two wickets in a second innings at Lordrsquos when conditions were less kind to the pace bowlersExstar Darren Gough was convinced that Anderson would eclipse Ian Bothamrsquos country record of 383 wickets At that stage the Lancastrian was way down with 226 scalps below Gough himself 229 Andrew Caddick 234 Alec Bedser 236 Matthew Hoggard 248 Brian Statham 252 Derek Underwood 297 Fred Trueman 307 and Bob Willis 325 ldquoAnderson is at the top of his game He is now at a place where he is at the peak of his career He has the control which is unreal for an opening bowlerrdquo the Yorkshireman was quoted as saying in a British tabloidAnderson ended the series with 21 wickets and celebrated commentator Henry Blofeld who has observed English cricket teams closely since the 1960s if not earlier reckoned the pace attack of Anderson Broad and Tim Bresnan was the best he has seenThat was in 2011 Today Anderson tops the list for the most wickets by a fast bowler with 611 followed by Glenn McGrath 563 Courtney Walsh 519 and teammate Stuart Broad with 517The opening Test loss at Chennai may be viewed as an aberration for the Indian team and Kohlirsquos men could well storm back next week at the same venue but Anderson will still be a foe to be fearedFormer teammate Ian Bell the classy righthanded former batsman indicated to ESPNcricinfo after the Test that he hadnrsquot seen Anderson bowl better in terms of reverse swing Now that is what India have to watch out for in the remainder of the seriesAndersonrsquos record against India is enviable ndash 115 wickets in 28 Tests And against old enemy Australia he has claimed 104 in 32 Tests Pundits reckoned not being in the limited overs mix for England has helped prolong his international career coupled with the fact that he is a supreme athlete He has had his share of rest periods which have puzzled cricket followers and exTest players but he has invariably emerged strongerAnderson described himself as ldquoa bit of a perfectionistrdquo to Andy Wilson who wrote an appreciation on him for the 2009 Wisden Cricketersrsquo Almanack in which he was named one of the five cricketers of the year ldquoWhether itrsquos cricket or I donrsquot know wallpapering a room at home If itrsquos not absolutely perfect I just keep ripping it off the wall ndash thatrsquos what drives my wife insanerdquo he revealedAlthough Anderson admitted then that he started to go easy on himself he is still giving it a rip much to the chagrin of opposition batsmen Some of them may have expected their foe to quit after the last Ashes series in England during the summer of 2019 But some champions donrsquot know when to stop Their final halt is as mystifying as the unpredictability of the goods they delivermiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzelloSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper