'Recognise India-England series as Pataudi Trophy'

Sharmila Tagore, the widow of former India captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, has written to the BCCI asking for the upcoming series between India and England to be recognised as the Pataudi Trophy. The Indian board has responded saying that England's Test series in India are contested for the Anthony de Mello Trophy.

Pataudi, who died in September 2011, played 46 Tests for India, captaining in 40, and scored 2793 runs at an average of 34.91. Pataudi's father, Iftikhar Ali Khan, represented both England and India in Tests. De Mello was an administrator who was instrumental in the formation of the BCCI, the Cricket Club of India and other cricketing institutions.

In Tagore's letter, written on November 2, to BCCI President N Srinivasan, she said she was disappointed that the board had not instituted a Pataudi lecture and the Pataudi Trophy. "As you are aware, next week the India-England Test series begins," Tagore said. "I am given to understand ECB has already written to BCCI requesting to make the trophy official."

The BCCI responded in a press release saying it couldn't name the series after Pataudi. "India-England Test 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 MCC had commissioned the Pataudi Trophy in 2007, to be presented to the winning captain at the end of future England-India Test series. It was conceived to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the first-ever India-England Test series that took place in 1932, named after the Pataudi family for their contribution to Anglo-Indian cricket. The BCCI, though, didn't give its official stamp of approval to the naming of the trophy.

"In 2007, when MCC proposed the institution of Pataudi Trophy for England-India series, the BCCI had clarified that the trophy is already named after Anthony De Mello."