Anderson surpasses Tendulkar for most home Tests

• SCORECARD

IMAGE: James Anderson has now played 95 Tests in England while Sachin Tendulkar played 94 in India. Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images

England pacer James Anderson surpassed 'Master Blaster' Sachin Tendulkar as the cricketer to play the most number of Test matches on 'home' soil.

He achieved the feat in the fourth Test against India, which got underway at The Oval on Thursday.

The pacer has now played 95 Tests in England, while Tendulkar played 94 in India.

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting played 92 Tests on home soil while England's Alastair Cook played 89. The same number of Tests were played by Steve Waugh in Australia.

India, put in to bat first, lost the wickets of Rohit Sharma, K L Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara, as England dominated the opening session in the penultimate Test of the five-match series.

At lunch, India was 54 for 3, with Virat Kohli unbeaten on 18 and Ravindra Jadeja, on 2, at the crease.

In the first session, 25 overs were bowled and the English bowlers made sure they repaid the faith shown by skipper Joe Root after winning the toss and deciding to bowl.

Indian openers Rohit Sharma and K L Rahul mixed caution with aggression as they saw out the opening spells of James Anderson and Ollie Robinson. However, the introduction of Chris Woakes paid off straight away as he dismissed Rohit (11), ending the 28-run opening stand.

Cheteshwar Pujara joined Rahul in the middle and the duo found the going tough, unable to score a single run for almost five overs. This eventually brought about a wicket, as Rahul (17) was trapped in front by Ollie Robinson, reducing India to 28 for 2.

Pujara (4) also failed to leave a mark with the bat as he chased a wide delivery and his wicket was grabbed by James Anderson, reducing India to 39/3 in the 20th over.

Kohli and Jadeja ensured that India went into the lunch break without further loss.

• India’s tour of England 2021