The England-India test series will now reportedly be named as the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy, and legendary fast bowler James Anderson reacted to the development ahead of the series.

While the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) or the England and Wales Cricket Board are yet to confirm the development, James Anderson reacted to the reports and stated that it was a huge honour for him to have his name associated with legendary Sachin Tendulkar.

“It’s a huge honour,” said James Anderson. “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.

“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,” concluded James Anderson.

The Pataudi Trophy first introduced in 2007 to mark 75 years since the first test between India and England, has traditionally been awarded for the bilateral test series played in England.

It was named after the pataudi family, which produced two Indian captain Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi and Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, famously known as Tiger Pataudi.

However, this will be re-introduced Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy, honouring Sachin Tendulkar and James Anderson.

Meanwhile former captain Sunil Gavaskar had slammed the England Cricket Board over reports that they were going to retire the Pataudi Trophy.

“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.”

“This is the first time one has heard of a trophy named after individual players being retired, though the decision is entirely the ECB’s, and the BCCI may well have been informed. It shows a total lack of sensitivity to the contribution made by the Pataudis to cricket in both England and India,” told Sunil Gavaskar.

Tendulkar has played 200 tests between 1989 and 2013 remains the highest run-scorer in test cricket history with 15,921 runs. Meanwhile, Anderson is England’s all-time leading wickettaker and the most successful pace bowler in Test cricket, amassing 704 wickets to his name.

Since retiring from international cricket last summer, Anderson has been engaged with England cricket as bowling consultant.

The two has faced each other in 14 tests, with James Anderson dismissing Tendulkar nine times- the most by any bowler against the India batting legend. The test series is set to begin on June 20 at Headingley.