"Don't Want To Do A Disservice...": James Anderson Breaks Silence On India-England Series Renaming
James Anderson on Monday said Sachin Tendulkar is someone he looked up to when he was growing up, after it was revealed that the trophy for the England-India Test series would be named after the two legendary cricketers. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and BCCI are expected to formally reveal the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy in the lead-up to the five-Test series between India and England, starting on June 20 at Leeds. 'It's a huge honour. I still can't quite believe it. Sachin is someone I looked up to when I was growing up, though I don't want to do him a disservice with his age," Anderson told ESPNCricinfo.
"I remember watching him, an absolute legend of the game, and I played against him a lot as well. So to have this trophy is a huge honour for me, and I couldn't be more proud." Talking about his experience of playing against India, Anderson said, "There are some great memories, I always loved playing against India. I'd say, after the Ashes, it was the series that England look forward to the most." 'I obviously had some tough times in India, it's a really hard place to go, but we won there which was a really special moment, and some of the battles we had in England were great. They had some amazing players." Anderson said India have put together a 'strong squad' for the series in England following retirements of batting greats Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
"This series is going to be exactly the same as you'd expect. I know India are going through a little bit of change with a new captain (Shubman Gill), and losing (Virat) Kohli and (Rohit) Sharma, but I still think they've got a strong squad with some really exciting players.
'England obviously are trying to play a certain way. It lends itself to a really exciting series,' he added.
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