Farokh Engineer criticises ECB over Pataudi trophy

A close friend of the late Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Farokh Engineer says the ECB erred in handling the renaming of the India-England Test series trophy and its decision to introduce the winning captain's medal after his former teammate's family name was clearly an afterthought to "appease" supporters like him.

The ECB had instituted the Pataudi Trophy for the India-England series in 2007 until renaming it to the Anderson-Tendulkar trophy before the start of the ongoing five-match series. The decision was criticised by the likes of Sunil Gavaskar.

Engineer too was left disappointed but at the same time, he felt the achievements of Sachin Tendulkar and James Anderson were unquestionable. Tendulkar approached the ECB which led to the home board introducing a winning captain's medal after the Pataudi family.

"Well Tiger Pataudi was a great friend of mine. Great colleague of mine. We played a lot of Test cricket. Great heritage, great family. I was most happy when the trophy was named after him back in 2007," the Manchester-based Engineer told PTI.

"On one hand I was very disappointed that the Pataudi name was removed, I would love Tiger's name to go on but instead powers that be decided with Anderson and Sachin who are legends of the game.

"It (introducing Pataudi medal) was obviously an afterthought, they should have announced it in the beginning that would have more credibility but at least they have done something. Common sense has prevailed and hope the Pataudi name always remains." The Pataudis have deep ties to the India-England cricketing landscape. Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi and his son Mansur both captained India and both played county cricket in England.

On the other hand, Tendulkar is the leading run getter in Test cricket while Anderson has the most wickets in the traditional format as a fast bowler.

"...the achievements of Tendulkar and Anderson can't be argued against. There are two sides to the story. They have named the medal after Pataudis which is a very thoughtful thing.

"That must be a second choice to appease a lot of Pataudi supporters of which I am one but you can't blame them for naming the trophy after Sachin and Anderson," Engineer said.

"The whole issue is debatable but they have kept the name. I hope they invite Sharmila Tagore (Mansur's wife) and his son Saif Ali Khan to present the medal. Last series they didn't do that. Fingers were pointed at ECB for that. Hopefully they give them due credit." India trail the five-match series 0-1 after losing at Headingley from a commanding position.

Pacer Jasprit Bumrah will only be playing three games out of five due to workload management but Engineer wants him play as many games as possible. There is intense speculation that he would be sitting out of the second Test here, starting July 2.

"He is your trump card. He needs to be mothballed as he is far too precious for the Indian team. Hope he plays majority of the games," the 87-year-old added.

Engineer played 46 Tests and five ODIs for India between 1961 and 1975.