Among the conversations that dominated the airwaves before India’s five-Test series got underway in England was the name of the trophy that the two sides will be playing for. The old Pataudi Trophy had been retired, leading to quite a bit of controversy, and was replaced with the Anderson-Tendulkar trophy, named after India’s batting great Sachin Tendulkar and England bowling legend James Anderson.
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There was some consternation about that as well, largely due to the fact that Tendulkar was a far senior player to Anderson. Tendulkar’s prolific career, in which he scored a whopping 34,357 runs with as many as 100 international centuries, lasted from 1989 to 2013 while Anderson took his 704 wickets in 188 Tests in an international career that spanned the years between 2002 and 2024. Anderson has now himself admitted that he felt somewhat strange to see his name beside Tendulkar’s considering how senior the latter was.
“It’s not necessarily just how huge it is to have a trophy named after you, but alongside Sachin Tendulkar, who for me is one of the greatest ever cricketers to have lived. I feel completely out of place when I see myself alongside him with the trophy. I hold him in such high regard.” Anderson told ‘Sky Sports’.
“I watched him as a kid, played against him. He’s just such an iconic cricketer who’s carried the weight of a nation on his shoulders throughout his career and past it as well. So, to share something like this with him is an incredible honour.”
The 42-year-old Anderson is still playing in domestic cricket, adding to his incredible tally of over 1100 first class wickets. He brought the curtains down on his illustrious international career last year, although he stated later on that it was something he did because the England team management told him. He said that he feels somewhat detached from his own legacy. “It is strange that when people talk about what I have achieved in cricket, like when I hear about it as if someone’s talking about someone else if that makes sense like I don’t feel it is me who has achieved all this,” he said.
