Legendary England fast bowler James Anderson is relishing the renaming of the England-India Test series. The upcoming edition of the bilateral series will reportedly have the names of James Anderson and Sachin Tendulkar, instead of the traditional Pataudi Trophy.
While the Board of Control for Cricket in India or the England and Wales Cricket Board are yet to confirm the development, Anderson reacted to the reports and stated that it was a huge honour for him to have his name associated with the legendary Sachin Tendulkar.
“It’s a huge honour,” Anderson told ESPNcricinfo in an interview. “I still can’t quite believe it. Sachin is someone I looked up to when I was growing up, though I don’t want to do him a disservice with his age.
“I remember watching him, an absolute legend of the game, and I played against him a lot as well. So to have this trophy is a huge honour for me, and I couldn’t be more proud,” he added.
The Pataudi Trophy, first introduced in 2007 to mark 75 years since the first Test between India and England, has traditionally been awarded for the bilateral Test series played in England. It was named after the Pataudi family, which produced two Indian captains: Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi and Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, famously known as Tiger Pataudi.
However, this time the series will not carry the Pataudi Trophy name. Instead, it will be contested for the newly introduced Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy, honouring Sachin Tendulkar and James Anderson—two icons who defined an era of cricket rivalry.
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar had slammed the England Cricket Board over reports that they were going to retire the Pataudi Trophy.
“The recent news that the ECB is going to retire the Pataudi Trophy, given to the winners of the Test series between England and India in England, is disturbing indeed. This is the first time one has heard of a trophy named after individual players being retired, though the decision is entirely the ECB’s, and the BCCI may well have been informed. It shows a total lack of sensitivity to the contribution made by the Pataudis to cricket in both England and India,” Gavaskar wrote in a column for Sportstar.
Tendulkar, who played 200 Tests between 1989 and 2013, remains the highest run-scorer in Test cricket history with 15,921 runs. Anderson is England’s all-time leading wicket-taker and the most successful pace bowler in Test cricket, with 704 wickets to his name.
Since retiring from international cricket last summer, Anderson has continued to contribute to English cricket as a bowling consultant and remains active in county cricket for Lancashire after recently signing a contract extension.
The two greats faced each other in 14 Tests, with Anderson dismissing Tendulkar nine times—the most by any bowler against the Indian batting legend.
