Indian cricket team’s Tour of England starting June 20 will be a closely watched affair. However, this time the bilateral series will not be called the Pataudi Trophy – named after the Pataudi family which gave India two captains Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi and Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi [nicknamed Tiger Pataudi]. Several reports have confirmed that England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is ‘retiring’ the Pataudi Trophy from the upcoming series. The Pataudi Trophy was first awarded in 2007 to commemorate 75 years of first India vs England Test. Since then, the Pataudi Trophy has been the name of the India vs England bilateral contest played in England.
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has blasted the ECB for its decision.
“The recent news that the ECB is going to retire the Pataudi Trophy, given to the winners of the Test series between England and India in England, is disturbing indeed. This is the first time one has heard of a trophy named after individual players being retired, though the decision is entirely the ECB’s, and the BCCI may well have been informed. It shows a total lack of sensitivity to the contribution made by the Pataudis to cricket in both England and India,” Gavaskar wrote in a column for Sportstar.
“There may well be a new trophy named after more recent players, and here’s hoping that if an Indian player has been approached, he will have the good sense to politely decline — not only out of respect for two former India captains but also to avoid the same fate of having a trophy named after him retired after he is gone. The ECB is fully entitled to name the trophy after one of their own players, but I, along with loads of Indian cricket supporters, fervently hope that any other Indian cricketer will have the smarts to decline, lest history repeats itself as it has with the Pataudi Trophy.”
The apparent move to ‘retire’ the Pataudi Trophy has hurt Sharmila Tagore, actor and wife of the late Tiger Pataudi. “I haven’t heard from them, but the ECB has sent a letter to Saif that they are retiring the trophy,” Sharmila told HT. “If the BCCI wants to or does not want to remember Tiger’s legacy, it is for them to decide.”
The ECB has neither denied nor accepted the development. “This is not something we’ll be able to offer you a comment on,” an ECB spokerperson said.
Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, one of the greatest cricket captains India has produced, died in New Delhi in 20211 after battling with a lung infection. Pataudi, regarded as one of the finest Indian captains, played 46 Tests for the country, scoring 2793 runs for an average of 34.91 with an unbeaten 203 being his highest score. In all, he smashed six centuries and 16 fifties in his career.
Though retiring a trophy is not common in cricket, it has happened in the past. Like the Wisden Trophy, played between England and West Indies, which was renamed as Richards-Botham trophy.
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