James Anderson expects England to maintain their aggressive approach

James Anderson expects England to stay true to their attacking principles and hit their way out of trouble after a tough second day of their series-deciding Test against India.

The ultra-aggressive ‘Bazball’ era, which began with three rousing victories over New Zealand, hit its first major bump at Edgbaston as India dominated a rain-shortened Saturday.

They started by smashing 78 runs at a rampant rate in the morning session, including a world record 35 in a single Stuart Broad over, to post 416 in their first innings.

England responded by scrambling to 84 for five, with captain Jasprit Bumrah taking out the top three having earlier done the bulk of the damage against Broad.

Anderson, whose 32nd five-wicket haul represented the high point of the day from an English perspective, acknowledged that the situation was decidedly dicey for his side but anticipates they will simply double down and go hard again.

It is a policy which lifted them from some tricky moments against the Kiwis and, with the in-form Jonny Bairstow and his cavalier captain Ben Stokes at the crease, any other approach seems unlikely.

“I’ve got a fair feeling that our best line of defence will be attack,” said Anderson.

“The way Brendon McCullum and Stokesy have gone about the last few weeks, the way we’ve got ourselves out of sticky situations, has been by trying to put pressure back on the opposition.

“I don’t see this being any different. Our batters are naturally aggressive, we want to score, we want to move the game forward and that’s what we’re trying to do. Unless we get a message otherwise, I think it pretty much will be it, yes.”

Our batters are naturally aggressive, we want to score, we want to move the game forward and that's what we're trying