England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) decision to retire Pataudi Trophy and rename the upcoming England versus India Test series as ‘Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy’ has drawn mixed reactions.

Since 2007, India’s Test tours of England were played for the Pataudi Trophy, which was named in the honour of Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi and his son, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi.

Similarly, the India versus England Test series played in India was called the Anthony de Mello Trophy, named after a former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

With the Pataudi Trophy now retired, the BCCI wants Pataudi legacy to remain part of India-England bilateral series.

According to a report published in The Indian Express, the Indian board has requested the ECB to name one of their awards for individual performance on Pataudi in the impending series.

“It’s the ECB who decides on whom they want to name their series. The BCCI has no role in it as it’s their home series. We have requested them to name one of the post match Trophy on Pataudi and they will revert to us,” a BCCI official told The Indian Express.

Earlier this year, the ECB had decided to move on from Pataudi’s name without mentioning any reason. However, they had contacted the late Tiger Pataudi’s son, Saif Ali Khan, to inform about the decision to retire the trophy.

While retiring a trophy is not something common in cricket, it has happened in the past. The Test series played between England and West Indies was changed from Wisden Trophy to Richards-Botham Trophy in 2020.

England will be hosting India in a five-match Test series, scheduled to start from June 20 at Headingley, Leeds. The two teams will now play for Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, named in the honour of James Anderson and Sachin Tendulkar.

Widely deemed as one of the greatest batters ever, Tendulkar retired from the game as the leading run-getter (15,921) in Test cricket. He also holds the record of most centuries (51) in the traditional format.

Anderson too left a massive mark on the game and is regarded as one of the finest exponents of swing bowling. His 704 wickets are the most by a pacer in the history of Test cricket. In the all-time list, he sits at No.3 spot, only behind the legendary spinners -- Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne.

Both players are well respected in their respective countries. Tendulkar was bestowed with Bharat Ratna award, India’s highest civilian honour in 2014, months after his retirement from international cricket. Anderson was awarded a knighthood in former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's resignation honours list.