
Pataudi medal was an afterthought, ECB should have done better: Farokh Engineer
BIRMINGHAM: A close friend of the late Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Farokh Engineer says the ECB erred in handling the renaming of the India-England Test series trophy and its decision to introduce the winning captain's medal after his former teammate's family name was clearly an afterthought to "appease" supporters like him.
The ECB had instituted the Pataudi Trophy for the India-England series in 2007 until renaming it to the Anderson-Tendulkar trophy before the start of the ongoing five-match series.
The decision was criticised by the likes of Sunil Gavaskar.
Engineer too was left disappointed but at the same time, he felt the achievements of Sachin Tendulkar and James Anderson were unquestionable.
Tendulkar approached the ECB which led to the home board introducing a winning captain's medal after the Pataudi family.
"Well Tiger Pataudi was a great friend of mine. Great colleague of mine. We played a lot of Test cricket. Great heritage, great family. I was most happy when the trophy was named after him back in 2007," the Manchester-based Engineer told PTI.
"On one hand I was very disappointed that the Pataudi name was removed, I would love Tiger's name to go on but instead powers that be decided with Anderson and Sachin who are legends of the game."
"It (introducing Pataudi medal) was obviously an afterthought, they should have announced it in the beginning that would have more credibility but at least they have done something. Common sense has prevailed and hope the Pataudi name always remains."
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