It should be Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy, not Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy

India’s batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has questioned the order of the names in the recently-initiated Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy which India and England are playing for in the ongoing Test series. Gavaskar felt it should be the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy and not Anderson-Tendulkar because the Indian is the senior of the two and has scored the maximum runs in world cricket. He called the alphabetical order argument (A comes before T) “a lame one” and pointed to Tendulkar’s achievements.

“The ECB [England and Wales Cricket Board] 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. 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,” wrote Gavaskar in his column for Sunday mid-day. 

“I also urge all Indian cricket lovers including the India media to call it the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy.” Gavaskar also reckoned that the Pataudi Medal of Excellence which will be given to the series-winning captain should have been for the man of the match in each of the five Test matches. “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,” said Gavaskar, who was one of the first to slam the decision to retire the Pataudi Trophy which India and England played for from 2007 to 2021 in Test series held in England.

This article first appeared on Mid Day