India's top 6 batsmen vs James Anderson: Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Pujara paint grim stats in England

Indias top 6 batsmen vs James Anderson: A grim story — India's top 6 batsmen vs James Anderson: A grim story

Leeds, August 27: India will soon have to embark on an improbable recovery mission when they come out to bat in the second innings of the third Test against England at the Headingley.

England have already piled a first innings lead in excess of 300 runs, and Virat Kohli and his bunch will have to bat out of their skin to save this Test at least.

The only solution for India is to bat for time, the old school Test match batting and try to keep England bowlers at bay. But that is a task easier said than done even considering the fact the pitch has eased out a lot since that catastrophic first innings where India had bowled out for 78.

The conditions will remain murky as you would expect in England and the home side has a master to exploit these conditions in pacer James Anderson.

The Lancastrian is the third highest wicket-taker in Test cricket behind Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne and at 39 remains a canny bowler who knows how to exploit English conditions.

Anderson had blown away the Indian top order in the first innings taking three wickets - KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli that effectively ended the visitors' hope for a big first innings total at Leeds.

So, here MyKhel takes a look at how India's top 6 batsmen have fared against 'King of Swing' Anderson over the years. Not very surprisingly, their records in England do not paint a bright picture.

(Stats by Arun Gopalakrishnan. He tweets at @Statanalyst).