Cliff Notes – ‘Can’t quite believe it’ – Anderson chuffed after England-India Test series named Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy
- James Anderson expressed immense pride in being associated with the new Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, which will replace the Pataudi Trophy for the upcoming Test series between England and India.
- The trophy commemorates the legendary careers of both Anderson and Sachin Tendulkar, who hold records for the most Test appearances and runs, respectively, with their combined careers spanning 35 years.
- Anticipating a competitive series, Anderson acknowledged India’s evolving squad while highlighting the historical significance and excitement surrounding the England-India rivalry.
‘Can’t quite believe it’ – Anderson chuffed after England-India Test series named Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy
James Anderson said he “could not be more proud” to be permanently associated with the Test rivalry between England and India, after the ECB and BCCI chose to put his name to the new series trophy, alongside that of his former rival and fellow record-breaker Sachin Tendulkar.
The Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy will replace the long-standing Pataudi Trophy ahead of this summer’s five-match Test series, which gets underway at Headingley on June 20. The two men are expected to attend an official unveiling during the World Test Championship final at Lord’s this week.
“It’s a huge honour,” Anderson said during a DP World event at Lord’s. “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.”
No players in Test history have taken the field more times than Tendulkar (200 caps) and Anderson (188), with Tendulkar’s haul of 15,921 runs also a record. Anderson, meanwhile, is the format’s most prolific fast bowler, with the last of his 704 wickets coming against West Indies at Lord’s last July.
The pair’s longevity meant their combined careers spanned 35 years, from Tendulkar’s Test debut as a 16-year-old in 1989, to Anderson’s farewell on the eve of his 42nd birthday last year. Their paths crossed on the Test field on 14 occasions between 2006 and 2012, with Anderson dismissing Tendulkar nine times.
James Anderson walks off with 700 wickets in the bag
“Time flies,” Anderson added. “I’m playing with guys at Lancashire at the moment, and I had 50 Test wickets before they were born. It’s a bit strange how things work out.”
In the course of his 21-year Test career, Anderson claimed more wickets against India than any other Test nation, with a total of 149 at 25.47 in 39 appearances. His highlights included a key role in a famous win in Mumbai in 2005-06, as well as back-to-back series wins at home and away in 2011 and 2012-13, the first of which lifted England to No.1 in the ICC Test rankings.
However, he also played in five series losses against India, four of them away from home including his final overseas campaign in 2024, in which he claimed his 700th Test wicket in Dharamsala.
“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 look 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.”
Looking ahead to the first edition of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, he anticipated another tough contest, to rival the last India tour of England three years ago, which finished 2-2 after the final Test was postponed by 12 months due to Covid.
“This series is going to be exactly the same as you’d expect,” Anderson said. “I know India are going through a little bit of change with a new captain [Shubman Gill], and losing [Virat] Kohli and [Rohit] Sharma, but I still think they’ve got a strong squad with some really exciting players. England obviously are trying to play a certain way. It lends itself to a really exciting series.”
The Pataudi Trophy, for which the teams had competed in England since 2007, was named after the former India captains Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi and his son, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi. The equivalent for India home series has been the Anthony de Mello Trophy, named after one of the founding figures of BCCI, who was also the board’s inaugural secretary and president between 1946-47 to 1950-51.
The trend follows the naming of the unveiling of the Crowe-Thorpe trophy in November 2024 for the winner of Test series between England and New Zealand. India and Australia have competed for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Tests since 1996.
James Anderson was speaking at a DP World Beyond Boundaries Initiative, a mission to make the game of cricket more accessible across the globe
