Follow UsA 42-year-old James Anderson was chuffed to bits after the England-India series was renamed to Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy ahead of the five-match Test series, which starts June 20. The new name replaces the long-standing Pataudi Trophy moniker, which ran for the longest time.
"It's a huge honour," Anderson told ESPNcricinfo 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.
Anderson, who himself has been a legend of the game, reckoned that he can’t be more ‘proud’ to have his name associated with yet another legend, Sachin Tendulkar.
"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."
While the seamer still kept Ashes ahead of India-England, he reckoned that it was the second toughest rivalry for the Three Lions.
"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."
However, India won’t be the same force to reckon with after the retirement of both talismans - Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Not just that, they will have a new leader, Shubman Gill, which puts them in quite a dicey position ahead of the long series. But Anderson reckons that India will still continue to fight hard.
"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."
First game of the five-match series between England and India begins on June 20 in Headingley.