'Lord's just seemed to bring the best out of me'

London: The Lord's does seem to get the best out of him, veteran England seamer James Anderson said after grabbing his seventh five-wicket haul at the iconic venue during the second Test against India here.

Eighteen years after he made his Test debut with a five-wicket haul against Zimbabwe at Lord's, Anderson overcame an injury scare en route to capping his 31st fifer.

"There's something that is extra bit special about Lord's, certainly for me. I do love it here. It just seemed to bring the best out of me," said Anderson, playing in his 164th Test, at the press conference after the end of second day's play.

England struggled to get their first wicket till the 44th over after putting India in under overcast conditions and had to turn to Andeson who cleaned up Rohit Sharma (83) with a stunning delivery and also accounted for Cheteshwar Pujara (9) on day one.

He then returned on day two to dismiss Ajinkya Rahane (1), Ishant Sharma (8) and Jasprit Bumrah (0) as India slipped from 276/3 overnight to 364 all out with Anderson claiming his fourth fifer against India at Lord's.

He also became the oldest pacer to take a five-for in Tests since 1951.

At 39, Anderson is not getting young, but the veteran pacer hoped he would get to play once again at his "favourite venue". The last few times I've been here you do think 'is this the last time I'm going to play here?' Hopefully, it's not my last time here or my last time on the honours board."

On England's bowling strategy against India, Anderson said they planned to bowl as full as possible without overpitching.

You tried to bowl as full as possible, but if you missed your length even slightly, it was getting driven. "I think it was testament to how they batted. Particularly KL (Rahul) and Rohit (Sharma). They put you under pressure. They left well, defended well. They sort of forced you into bowling that full length; as soon as you did it, they punished you.