Courtesy: BCCI/Google
Sunil Gavaskar, the former Indian captain, has called out the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) plan to rename the Pataudi Trophy to the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy as disturbing in his recent column for a sports website. Notably, the ECB is looking to retire the Pataudi Trophy, named after the former Indian Test captain, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, to honour the legacy of recently retired players Sachin Tendulkar and James Anderson, but it didn’t quite sit well with Sunil Gavaskar, his former teammate.
Notably, the Pataudi Trophy has been given to the winner of the England versus India Test series in England, and it was retained by the hosts three years ago after drawing the five-match Test series 2-2. At the same time, the winner of the India versus England Test series in India gets their hands on the Anthony de Mello Trophy, which is currently in possession of the hosts after they won the five-match Test series 4-1 in 2024.
This is the first time one has heard of a trophy named after individual players being retired: Sunil Gavaskar
But now, with the reported plan of renaming the Pataudi Trophy, Sunil Gavaskar took to a column for Sportstar - On The Write Line to give his opinion on the situation, and he didn’t mince his words in it. He wrote, “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,” Sunil Gavaskar added. He alluded to how if a recent Indian player has been approached to change the name of a trophy following their retirement, he will “politely decline” the option altogether.
Sunil Gavaskar also stated that while ECB can change the name of a trophy after one of their own players, he hopes, just like the Indian fans, that if any other Indian player will get approached for the same in the future, he will decline it.
