Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy revealed as the legends pose with new prize

Legends Sachin Tendulkar and James Anderson unveiled the new 'Anderson-Tendulkar' trophy, for which India and England will fight in the five-match Test series beginning on Friday at Headingley, Leeds. The prize will replace the Pataudi Trophy.

The trophy features imagery of a Tendulkar cover drive and Anderson's bowling action.



Earlier in the day, Tendulkar on Thursday said he reached out to the family of late Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi as soon as he got to know that the India-England Test series trophy was being renamed and tried to ensure that the former captain's association with the marquee showdown remained intact.

The Pataudi trophy has been replaced by the Anderson-Tendulkar trophy in honour of the Indian batting great and former England pacer James Anderson. The decision to retire the Pataudi trophy was jointly taken by the England and Wales Cricket Board and the BCCI.

"I know that the Pataudi Trophy was retired a few months ago by BCCI and ECB. But when I got to know about the trophy being named after me and (James) Anderson, my first phone call was to the Pataudi family," Tendulkar told PTI.

"Tiger Pataudi played a huge role in inspiring many generations and that should be never forgotten. So I'm glad with this outcome," the 52-year-old added.

The Pataudi name will continue to be attached to the series as it has been decided to present a newly-instituted Pataudi Medal for Excellence' to the winning captain.

This was after Tendulkar had multiple discussions with former BCCI secretary and current ICC chairman Jay Shah as well as bigwigs of ECB on the issue.

"I spoke to them. I told them everything. At the same time, I mentioned that to keep the Pataudi legacy alive, we will do everything possible. And then I picked up the phone and spoke to Mr. Shah and ECB officials and shared a few ideas. Because it played a huge role in inspiring many generations and that should be never forgotten," he said.

Tendulkar said he was pleased with the outcome.

"I'm very happy that this kind of attention to detail was given to our discussions and eventually came up with the option of having a medal in his honour," he said.

"I felt all the phone calls made and all the discussions that we had, it was good. And in the end, it produced a positive result for not just Anderson and me, because the decision was taken by BCCI and ECB, but also simultaneously also decided to introduce this medal in his honour, which is a nice feeling."

Tendulkar and Anderson are greats of the game, having played 200 and 188 Tests respectively for their countries.

India to begin a new chapter

India will begin World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 campaign with the first of the five Test matches against England at Headingley, Leeds on Friday. This will mark a fresh chapter in Indian cricket with Shubman Gill leading as captain following the Test retirements of greats Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin.

With the team in transition, team India vice-captain Rishabh Pant on Wednesday confirmed that he will continue to bat at no.5 in the upcoming five-match Test series against England, while captain Shubman Gill will take Virat Kohli's place at no. 4.

Post Kohli's retirement last month, there were speculations on who would would fill the massive shoes at the position. It has been a spot held by of bearing the responsibility of playing at number four, a spot that belonged to the legendary Sachin Tendulkar before Kohli.

"I think there is still discussion going on, who's going to play three, but definitely four and five are fixed. I think Shubman is going to bat at number four, and I am going to stick to number five as of now, and the rest, we are going to keep on discussing that," Pant said during a press conference on Wednesday.

The bowling department will be led by Jasprit Bumrah, with Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur for support. The spin department would be handled by experieced Ravindra Jadeja. Kuldeep Yadav might get a spot in place of one of the pacers.

The Ben Stokes-led England have already announced the playing 11. The team is without key bowlers such as Mark Wood, Gus Atkinson and Jofra Archer. Their batting, however, is a well settled unit.