England great James Anderson lauded Virat Kohli as one of the greatest to play the game. Kohli recently announced his retirement from Test cricket to end an illustrious career where he scored 9230 runs in 123 Tests, including 30 centuries. Kohli's decision came days after captain Rohit Sharma also announced his retirement from the Test format. Anderson said that India have big shoes to fill after the retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, however, added that the country has a huge talent pool to replace the veterans.

“Great players. There will be a new captain because Sharma has retired. Kohli, one of the greatest Test batters that’s ever been. There’s big shoes to fill there, but they’ve got a huge amount of talent in their squad,” said Anderson on TalkSport. “You just have to watch the IPL. They are bringing players into Test cricket from the IPL now who are just so attacking, aggressive, and fearless.”

Anderson and Kohli shared a long rivalry in Test cricket. During the 2014 Test series in England, Anderson was a nightmare for Kohli; however, when Kohli returned to England in the 2018 series, he scored 593 runs and didn't get out to Anderson.

Kohli and Rohit's retirements came ahead of the five-match Test series against England. Anderson warned the hosts for taking India lightly and said they can be a tough nut to crack. “If I’m being honest, looking back at my career, that happened too much where, 18 months out from an Ashes, the management and even the players starting to look towards that and actually forgetting what’s in front of you. India is going to be such a tough challenge even at home. They are a strong side,” said Anderson.

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