I was genuinely surprised to be told that Saturday was 10 years to the day since I made my England debut, in a one-day international against Australia at Melbourne. Then, the idea of me celebrating that anniversary by drawing level with Ian Botham as the leading England wicket-taker in all cricket would have been nuts.
Everyone who knows me knows I do not play the game for records. But if those things do happen, it is satisfying because it means I am making a proper contribution to the team’s effort.
This has been a tough match for the bowlers on a pitch that has just got deader and it could have been a very difficult day for us, even at one stage looking as though we might not take a wicket at all.
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It can be soul-destroying when you are bending your back and you see our wicketkeeper, Matt Prior, taking the ball on the second bounce.
That is what we expected when we came and why, when the ball is moving as it did the day before, you have to make it count and you have to hope the luck is with you.
To be honest, while I was planning to attack the stumps with inswing, when I bowled Virender Sehwag it looked to me like he just missed a straight ball, though it might have held up on the pitch.
Later I also got Gautam Gambhir with one that seemed to nip off a crack. The fact is, on a pitch like this all you can do is put as many balls in the right place as possible and hope that something happens.
I'll have to get Monty to ask Tendulkar for his autographI cannot deny that taking the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar for the ninth time in Test cricket is a feather in my cap, but for a moment it was touch and go whether I’d get the chance.
I was feeling pretty sick for most of the second day and I had been off the field for about 20 minutes when Sachin came in to bat.
Cooky was keen to get me back on the field because he knew I would have to wait a while before being allowed to bowl at him.
Then I got a break. I had bowled a couple of outswingers at him, one of which he’d edged to third man, so I tried to chuck one up at him outside off stump to swing in, it seemed to nip back off the pitch as well and might have kept low.
Mission: Monty Panesar might have to get Sachin Tendulkar's autographIt was the kind of ball that is devilish hard for a new batsman to face and, lucky for me, it did what it did.
People have asked me if I intend to ask Sachin to sign something for me as a memento of the record. Frankly, I don’t think I have the audacity to go up to him and say: ‘Can you sign a ball for me please?’
I have two days to pluck up the courage or, knowing Sachin signed a ball for Monty Panesar when he got him out on his Test debut, I might get Monty to do it for me.
Why I went over the top with KPWhen I ran to celebrate Sehwag’s wicket with Kevin Pietersen, people speculated that it might have been the result of a plan based on the inside knowledge Kev gained from playing with him in the IPL.
Nice thought. But the truth is far simpler. Knowing how hard it was going to be to get wickets on that track, I was so excited to take one third ball that I went a bit over the top and Kev just happened to be in the way!
Not inside knowledge: Anderson says he celebrated with Kevin Pietersen because he was in the way! It's not rock 'n' rollMonty Panesar has been tweeting that the fast bowlers have been trying to get him into rock ’n’ roll. I think his take on the genre might be a bit different to ours, though.
True, we had a big session the night before last, but it was all old-school power ballads like Foreigner, Roxette and Bonnie Tyler.
A change from rap and Bollywood, yes, but rock ’n’ roll? No, Monty, just no!
We are unable to carry live pictures from the fourth Test in Nagpur due to a dispute between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and international news organisations.The BCCI has refused access to Test venues to established picture agencies Getty Images and Action Images and other Indian photographic agencies.MailOnline consider this action to be a strike against press freedom and supports the action to boycott BCCI imagery. More... Anderson joins the greats with wicket No 528 pegging him level with Botham England had 99 problems then Cook struck! Dhoni just misses out on ton
