Sunil Gavaskar slams name of Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy: ‘It should be Tendulkar-Anderson'

Telegraph

6 hours ago

The legendary former India batsman Sunil Gavaskar has criticised the renaming of the trophy for the winner of the England-India series, saying it is 'jarring' to see James Anderson's name ahead of Sachin Tendulkar's.
The Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy was unveiled this week, replacing the Pataudi Trophy, which had been awarded since 2007 and commemorated Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, the only player to represent both England and India in Test cricket, and whose son 'Tiger' captained India. The Pataudi Medal will now be awarded to the winning captain of the series.
Gavaskar, the 75-year-old former India captain who made 34 Test hundreds, is not happy with the change. Initially, he said it showed 'a total lack of sensitivity to the contribution made by the Pataudis to cricket in both England and India'.
Now, he has gone further, arguing that Anderson's name should come after Tendulkar's, in part because he is younger (52 to the Englishman's 42). He went as far as to suggest Indian fans should deliberately misname the trophy, and described the argument that Anderson's name comes first on an alphabetical basis as 'a lame one'.
Writing in a column for Mid-Day, Gavaskar said: 'The ECB [England and Wales Cricket Board] 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 [sic].
'He is numero uno as far as runs and centuries are concerned in Test cricket but 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. Tendulkar is also part of a World Cup-winning team [in one-day cricket], 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.
'I urge all Indian cricket lovers including the India media to call it the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy.'