“It did feel a little strange” - Kapil Dev opens up on ECB renaming Pataudi Trophy to Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy

Former Indian captain and analyst Kapil Dev has finally opened up on the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) renaming the Pataudi Trophy as the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy for the upcoming five-match Test series between England and India.

Notably, India is scheduled to take on England in the five-match Test series, starting on June 20 at Headingley, Leeds, in the new World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle. Many cricketing giants criticized the ECB’s move to rename the name of the trophy, while Kapil Dev also joined the queue.

“Cricket is cricket. What happens on the ground should be good. The rest you can keep changing; it did feel a little strange when it happened. I did think, does this happen as well? But it’s ok, everything goes in cricket,” Kapil told PTI.

It’s important to know that the trophy was first commissioned in 2007 by the MCC to celebrate the 75th anniversary of India’s first Test in 1932, named after the Pataudi family – Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi remains the only cricketer to have represented both England and India in Tests, and he went on to captain India later. His son, Mansoor Ali Khan “Tiger” Pataud,i is also considered one of the iconic Indian captains.

“I just don’t have any expectations, just go, play express yourself. That is more important,” Kapil Dev said.

With Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Ravichandran Ashwin retiring from the longest format of the game, the BCCI selection committee has appointed Shubman Gill as the new Test captain with Rishabh Pant also part of the leadership team as his deputy.

India’s squad for the first Test: Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (VC & WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana.

England playing XI for first Test vs India: Ben Stokes (C), Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, ⁠Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (WK), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir.

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