Sunil Gavaskar lambasts ECB for retiring Pataudi Trophy

The ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) recently came forward and announced their decision to retire the Pataudi Trophy. It is interesting to note that the Pataudi Trophy is a Test series that has been played between India and England since 2007.

With the long-standing trophy being retired, the same decision did not sit well with former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar. The legendary former batter took centre stage and opined that the ECB retiring the trophy goes to show a lack of sensitivity to the contribution that the Pataudis gave to cricket.

"The recent news that the ECB is going to retire the Pataudi Trophy, given to the winners of the Test series between England and India in England, is disturbing indeed. It shows a total lack of sensitivity to the contribution made by the Pataudis to cricket in both England and India. There may well be a new trophy named after more recent players, and here’s hoping that if an Indian player has been



approached, he will have the good sense to politely decline," Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.

Furthermore, Gavaskar talked about how the ECB is fully entitled to name the trophy after one of their players and hoped that if any Indian player is offered the honour to have the trophy named after them, they decline the offer.

"The ECB is fully entitled to name the trophy after one of their own players, but I, along with loads of Indian cricket supporters, fervently hope that any other Indian cricketer will have the smarts to decline, lest history repeats itself as it has with the Pataudi Trophy,” Gavaskar said.

It is worth noting that as per reports from Cricbuzz. The Pataudi family were informed about the ECB’s decision that the Pataudi Trophy would be retired. "That is the understanding from the ECB. Apparently trophies are retired after some time," a source close to the Pataudi family told Cricbuzz.