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'Huge Honour, Still Can't Believe': James Anderson On Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy
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Anderson played 39 Tests against India during his two-decade-long international career and picked up a total of 149 wickets, which is the most by any bowler.
India and England will face each other in a five-match Test series later this month. The red-ball series, which will kick off at Headingley in Leeds on June 20, will be played for the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. The series is named after the two greatest cricketers from England and India.
During his 21-year-long Test career, Anderson played 188 matches for the Poms and picked up 704 wickets, which is the most, whereas Tendulkar finished his 24-year-long Test career with 15,921 runs in 200 matches.
The decision to rename the India-England Test series as Anderson-Tendulkar was taken last week, and on Monday, June 9, Anderson reacted to the news of the series being named after him.
According to the 43-year-old fast bowler, who is England's most capped Test player and all-time leading wicket-taker in the five-day format of the game, it's a huge honour for him, and he still can't quite believe it.
'It's a huge honour," Anderson told ESPNcricinfo. '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."
'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."
During his iconic Test career, which concluded last year, Anderson played 39 Tests against India and picked up 149 wickets, which is the most by any bowler. He was part of the Alastair Cook-led side that won a four-match series in India in 2012 and played big roles in England's series win at home against India in 2011, 2014 and 2018.
'There are some great memories; I always loved playing against India," Anderson said.
'I'd say, after the Ashes, it was the series that England looked 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 played four Tests against India last year and picked up 10 wickets.
First Published:
June 09, 2025, 21:18 IST
