Former England fast bowler James Anderson, while speaking to TNT Sports, picked his favorite stars from each country. Although he thought for some time about choosing stars from different countries, when it came to India, Virat Kohli remained his uncontested choice.
Cricket is another name for carrying forward the legacy. In every country that plays the game, from time to time, one player or the other has carried the legacy of the game through a generation. Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli are such legendary players of India.
Both the players belong to different time periods, as Tendulkar ended his 24-year long career when Virat Kohli reached his peak soon after. Both of them are great Indian players and Kohli has broken many records of the little master, which has been accepted even by the God of Cricket. One of these records also includes the highest number of ODI centuries in the history of cricket.
England great picks Virat Kohli as unopposed ‘favourite’ in Indian cricket
Talking about legacy in the game, James Anderson, one of England’s greatest bowlers, has also carried the legacy in international cricket for more than two decades. With 991 career wickets, Anderson remains one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time in world cricket. He is also the leading wicket-taker for England in both Tests and ODIs.
As the England legend was asked to choose a favorite player from each mentioned nation, he took a brief pause before naming a star from each nation; However, when it came to India, Anderson without any hesitation named Virat Kohli as his favorite cricketer.
Anderson bypassed Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma to name Kohli as the best. However he admitted that Tendulkar was the toughest batsman for India. Anderson has had the privilege of bowling against both these Indian stalwarts.
Ricky Ponting, Glenn McGrath were ignored when James Anderson chose his favorite Australian cricketer
Anderson has played most matches against the Australian team in his career. The reason for this is the Ashes, which is played on a fixed schedule. Anderson has been a fixture in England’s Ashes squad since joining the red-ball squad in 2003.
With his abundance of experience in the island nation and England’s biggest rivals, Anderson did not name any of those explosively talented batsmen as his favorites from the country, nor did he choose a fast bowler like McGrath or Brett Lee, but rather great spinner Shane Warne as his favorite Australian cricketer.
Warne died in 2022 and had an illustrious career, taking 1001 wickets in his career, although he played far fewer matches than his teammates like Anderson, McGrath and Muralitharan.
James Anderson’s surprising favorites from top-ranked international teams
Apart from these two countries, James Anderson has selected England veteran Joe Root as his favorite cricketer from the country. This great is the highest run-scorer for England in ODIs and Tests and is the greatest player ever to play Test cricket in the world.
Anderson’s other surprise picks include Pakistan’s Babar Azam, who has overlooked his great fast bowlers Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, and many of the country’s legendary batsmen.
He chose Tim Southee as his favorite Kiwi cricketer, AB de Villiers as his favorite South African, and former Sri Lankan captain Sanath Jayasuriya as his favorite from the Ceylon Islands.
James Anderson picks his favorite cricketer from each country. (TNT Sports).
– James Anderson chose Virat Kohli as his favorite Indian cricketer. pic.twitter.com/W9013UxOo1
– Tanuj (@ImTanujSingh) 4 January 2026
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