The upcoming five-match Test assignment between India and England is set to commence from June 20 with the first Test set to be played at Headingley in Leeds. Recently, it was announced that the series will be played for the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy. Both Sachin Tendulkar and James Anderson are nothing short of legends for India and England respectively.
Tendulkar and Anderson are both legends of the game
While Tendulkar is the highest run-scorer in international cricket history with a total of 34,357 runs under his name, Anderson is the highest wicket-taking pacer with 991 scalps.
In his first reaction to the England-India Test series being named as the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy, the former English seamer stated that it is a huge honour for him, recalling how he used to take inspiration from Tendulkar when he was growing up.
“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," he added.
Anderson also went on to recall England's Test series victory in India against the Men in Blue back in 2012 and labelled it as 'special'. He also claimed that it is very hard to go and perform well on Indian pitches.
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“There are some great memories; I always loved playing against India. 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 stated.
The upcoming Test series between England and India will be quite important for both the sides as it will also mark the beginning of the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. Notably, the Men in Blue haven't beaten the Three Lions in a Test series in England since 2007 so they will be looking to finally snap the losing streak and emerge victorious.