England and Wales Cricket Board’s decision to retire the Pataudi Trophy and rename the England versus India Test series as ‘Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy’ has stirred a controversy.
Amid the outrage, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has questioned the ECB for placing James Anderson's name before Sachin Tendulkar's.
The silverware was unveiled by the two greats on the eve of the five-Test series between India and England, which got underway on June 20 in Leeds.
In his column for Mid-Day, Gavaskar argued that Tendulkar's cricketing legacy far surpasses Anderson's, despite the alphabetical order placing Anderson's 'A' before Tendulkar's 'T'.
"The ECB is fully entitled to call the series by any name they choose but for most, if not all, Indian cricket lovers it is jarring to know that Anderson's name comes first. Not only is Sachin Tendulkar along with Kapil Dev the greatest Indian cricketer, but also senior to Anderson by more than a dozen years. He is numero uno as far as runs and centuries are concerned in Test cricket but also at the one-day level too he has more runs than anybody else. Anderson is third in the list of wicket takers in Test cricket and his record is nowhere as good as Tendulkar in one-day cricket," Gavaskar wrote.
"Tendulkar is also part of a World cup-winning team which Anderson has not been. Jimmy Anderson was a terrific bowler but mainly in English conditions and his record away is nowhere near as good as Tendulkar's is. So, by all accounts Tendulkar's name should come first. This argument that they are going by the letters of the alphabet where the letter A comes before T is such a lame one for there's simply no comparison with what Tendulkar has done and achieved and what Anderson has for their respective countries. Please don’t misunderstand, there's massive respect for Anderson but as an Indian, for me Tendulkar will always be above him. I also urge all Indian cricket lovers including the Indian media to call it the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy," he added.
The Pataudi family will continue to be associated with the India-England Test series. A newly commissioned Pataudi Medal will be presented to the winning captain of each Test series, involving the two teams.
However, Gavaskar expressed reservations about the newly introduced Pataudi Medal of Excellence. He believes honouring the Player of the Match with the medal would be more fitting than awarding it to the winning captain.
"The announcement of the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy also said that respect would be given to the Pataudis by having a medallion for the captain of the team winning the series. Why the captain and what if the series is drawn? That's why it would have been better to have had a Pataudi medal for the man of the match for every Test, culminating in the Pataudi Trophy for the player of the series. This way, the Pataudis will be remembered after every Test match played as well as after the series is finished in England," Gavaskar remarked.
