BCCI Steps In After England Board Decides To Retire Pataudi Trophy

The upcoming England vs India Test series, that starts in Leeds on June 20, will be played for the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy. Earlier, from 2007, the Pataudi Trophy was the name of the India vs England bilateral contests played in England. The Pataudi Trophy was first awarded in 2007 to commemorate 75 years of first India vs England Test. India vs England Test series played in India is called the Anthony de Mello Trophy, named after a former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Not everyone was happy with the decision. The BCCI, according to a report, has has 'requested' the England and Wales Cricket Board to name one of the post match trophies on Pataudi.

"It's the ECB who decides on whom they want to name their series. The BCCI has no role in it as it's their home series. We have requested them to name one of the post match Trophy on Pataudi and they will revert to us," a BCCI official told The Indian Express.

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, one of the greatest cricket captains India has produced, died in New Delhi in 2011 after battling with a lung infection. Pataudi, regarded as one of the finest Indian captains, played 46 Tests for the country, scoring 2793 runs for an average of 34.91 with an unbeaten 203 being his highest score. In all, he smashed six centuries and 16 fifties in his career. His father Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi earlier led the Indian team.

Though retiring a trophy is not common in cricket, it has happened in the past. Like the Wisden Trophy, played between England and West Indies, which was renamed as Richards-Botham trophy.

India great Sachin Tendulkar is the highest run-scorer in Test history with a tally of 15,921 in 200 Tests played between 1989 and 2013. James Anderson is England's all-time leading wicket-taker with 704 Test wickets in 188 matches. While Tendulkar retired in 2013, Anderson called time on his career in 2024.

Earlier, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar blasted the England and Wales Cricket Board for its decision to 'retire' the Pataudi Trophy..

"The recent news that the ECB is going to retire the Pataudi Trophy, given to the winners of the Test series between England and India in England, is disturbing indeed. This is the first time one has heard of a trophy named after individual players being retired, though the decision is entirely the ECB's, and the BCCI may well have been informed. It shows a total lack of sensitivity to the contribution made by the Pataudis to cricket in both England and India," Gavaskar wrote in a column for Sportstar. 

"There may well be a new trophy named after more recent players, and here's hoping that if an Indian player has been approached, he will have the good sense to politely decline - not only out of respect for two former India captains but also to avoid the same fate of having a trophy named after him retired after he is gone. The ECB is fully entitled to name the trophy after one of their own players, but I, along with loads of Indian cricket supporters, fervently hope that any other Indian cricketer will have the smarts to decline, lest history repeats itself as it has with the Pataudi Trophy."

The move to 'retire' the Pataudi Trophy also hurt Sharmila Tagore, actor and wife of the late Tiger Pataudi. "I haven't heard from them, but the ECB has sent a letter to Saif that they are retiring the trophy," Sharmila told HT a few months ago. "If the BCCI wants to or does not want to remember Tiger's legacy, it is for them to decide."

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