NEW DELHI - India's cricket chiefs have turned down a proposal to name the trophy for the upcoming Tests against England after former captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, who died last year aged 70.
The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), which owns the revered Lord's ground in London, instituted the Pataudi Trophy in 2007 for the winner of India-England series in England.
The family of Pataudi, nicknamed "Tiger", wrote to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) asking them to follow England's lead. But the BCCI on Wednesday said that the MCC's Pataudi Trophy was meant only for the series played in England and it had its own prize to be awarded to the winner of the series in India.
The BCCI said in a statement that the upcoming four-Test series, which begins on November 15, will be played for the Anthony de Mello Trophy, named after a former board official. "The India-England series in India is played for the Anthony De Mello Trophy instituted in 1951 in the name of the first secretary of the BCCI, recognising his contribution to Indian cricket," the statement read.
Former captain Bishan Bedi, who played under Pataudi, slammed the BCCI for handling the matter "shabbily". "(I) played six series with England and not once was there mention of the De Mello Trophy," Bedi tweeted. Tiger Pataudi is often hailed as one of India's most charismatic cricketers who played 46 Tests between 1961 and 1975.
A former "Nawab" or nobleman, his father, Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi was the only Test cricketer to play for both England and India. Tiger Pataudi scored 2,793 runs with six centuries, including an unbeaten 203 against England in New Delhi in 1964, despite having lost his right eye in a road accident. He led India in 40 of his 46 Tests, winning nine and securing the country's first series win abroad on the 1967-68 tour of New Zealand.