The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has been brutally criticized for their decision of renaming the Pataudi Trophy to the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. Notably, whenever a Test series between India and England was held on English soil, it used to be contested for the Pataudi Trophy. However, ECB decided to make a surprising decision and retired that name.
Gavaskar stated that Tendulkar's achievements are far bigger than Anderson's
Amid the growing criticism, legendary India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar slammed the ECB for putting James Anderson's name before Sachin Tendulkar in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy even though the latter's achievements are much bigger than that of the former.
"The ECB 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. He is numero uno as far as runs and centuries are concerned in Test cricket but also 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," Gavaskar wrote in his column for the Mid-Day.
Gavaskar also pointed out that while Tendulkar has won the ODI World Cup, Anderson was never been able to do so with England. He added that even though Anderson was a magnificent bowler, there is no reason why Tendulkar's name shouldn't come first.
"Tendulkar is also part of a World cup-winning team 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. So, by all accounts Tendulkar's name should come first. This argument that they are going by the letters of the alphabet where the letter A comes before T is such a lame one for there's simply no comparison with what Tendulkar has done and achieved and what Anderson has for their respective countries. Please don’t misunderstand, there's massive respect for Anderson but as an Indian, for me Tendulkar will always be above him. I also urge all Indian cricket lovers including the Indian media to call it the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy," Gavaskar added.
Gavaskar also questioned why the newly-introduced Pataudi Medal of Excellence will only be given to the winning captain. The ECB had introduced the medal after Tendulkar and BCCI had asked them to preserve the Pataudi legacy. However, Gavaskar believes that it should be the Player of the Match who should get the medal rather than the winning captain.
"The announcement of the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy also said that respect would be given to the Pataudis by having a medallion for the captain of the team winning the series. Why the captain and what if the series is drawn? That's why it would have been better to have had a Pataudi medal for the man of the match for every Test, culminating in the Pataudi Trophy for the player of the series. This way, the Pataudis will be remembered after every Test match played as well as after the series is finished in England," Gavaskar further wrote.