Former Indian captain Kapil Dev acknowledged that the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy’s renaming of the Pataudi Trophy feels odd in advance of India’s five-match Test series against England, which starts in Leeds on June 20.
The Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy is the new name given by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to the Pataudi Trophy, which is given to the victor of the Test series between India and England in England. It has been a long time since such a transformation, said Kapil.
“It feels a little strange… like, does this also happen? But that’s okay, everything works in cricket. At the end of the day, there is no difference. Cricket is cricket. The cricket on the field should be the same,” Kapil was quoted as saying at an event in New Delhi by News18.
The official announcement was supposed to happen during the World Test Championship final at Lord’s, but it was postponed due to the Ahmedabad Air India jet crash. According to rumors, the winner of the forthcoming series would get a medal bearing the Pataudi family’s name, which has a long history in cricket in both India and England.
Sunil Gavaskar, the former Indian great adopted a critical tone and called renaming of the trophy as disturbing. Early in its history the same trophy was called after the former India captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi. It was established 18 years back, and has a great historical importance that shows how deeply rooted the Pataudi family is in India-England cricketing outfit.
Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi and his son Mansur have both captained India and played county cricket in England. The winning captain will still receive a unique medal bearing the Pataudi name even though the series name has changed.
“When this happened, Sachin reached out to the ECB and conveyed that the Pataudi name should remain a part of the India-England rivalry. Mr Jay Shah was involved in the discussions,” a BCCI source said.
