Vizag, India

The 41-year-old James Anderson backs England to complete the run-chase inside 70 overs on day four of the ongoing Vizag Test against India. England is 67 for one, with opener Zak Crawley (29*) and nightwatchman Rehan Ahmed (9*) at the crease. Anderson sounded confident in England’s chances of taking a 2-0 lead in this five-match series while commenting on India’s ‘cautious approach’ despite grand lead.

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After wrapping up England inside three sessions on day two, India scored only 255 in their second innings, giving the visitors a mega target of 399. Anderson said India didn’t play freely, as they didn’t know what total was good enough target.

Revealing the dressing room chat with the coach, Brendon McCullum, a night before, Anderson said the boss asked them to chase even 600 in the fourth innings.

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"I think the nerves were there to see today, the way they batted, I think they didn't know how many was enough," Anderson said after stumps on day three. "They were quite cautious, even when they had a big lead. The chat last night from the coach was that if they get 600, we were going to go for it."

Will wrap the match inside 70 overs

With over 300 runs needed inside 180 overs and nine wickets remaining, England has ample time to chase this total and create history. However, Anderson feels the job will be done inside three sessions or within 60-70 overs on day four.

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"It makes it very clear to everyone that we will try to do it tomorrow. I know there are 180 overs left in the game, but we will try to do it in 60 or 70,” Anderson said.

Backing England to deploy the same approach that got them this far in world cricket since Stokes and McCullum took over, Anderson said England will do no different than what they have done so far, irrespective of the result.

“That's the way we play, and we saw that tonight with Rehan [Ahmed] going out and playing his shots. He wanted to get out there and chase those runs down, even tonight. We have set our stall out, tomorrow will be no different, we will play the same way we have the last two years.

Whether we win or lose, it's not irrelevant because we are extremely competitive and want to win every game we play, but we want to play in a certain way. I think we will be doing that tomorrow,” Anderson added.