James Anderson, who became the first pacer to 700 Test wickets last week, has revealed Kuldeep Yadav had a hunch about being the Englishman’s landmark scalp.

“Kuldeep edged one down to third man for a single. As he got to the non-striker’s end, and as I was walking back to my mark, he said: ‘I’m going to be your 700th wicket’,” Anderson, only the third bowler to reach the milestone, at the final Test in Dharamsala, said on the BBC’s Tailenders podcast.

“He wasn’t saying he was trying to get out, he was just saying he had a feeling. We both laughed at it.”

Spinners Muthiah Muralidaran and Shane Warne are the other bowlers to have reached 700 Test wickets.

The 41-year-old Anderson, however, said the moment would have been more joyous had England finished on the winning side in the series which they lost 1-4.

The visitors only won the series opener in Hyderabad.

“I didn’t celebrate, there was nothing to celebrate. Obviously that was a nice moment to achieve the feat on a picturesque ground. I would have felt a bit more excited if we would have won.

“I don’t play cricket for milestones, I play cricket to win matches for my team.”

PTI