ECB plans to 'retire' Pataudi Trophy

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is contemplating doing away with the Pataudi Trophy, the symbol of supremacy in the bilateral Test series between England and India played in England. Indications are that the ECB is planning to 'retire' the trophy and it may come into effect from the upcoming series in June-July when the Indian team will travel to England.

The exact reason for the move to 'retire' the trophy is not known but it may not be a surprise if another trophy with the names of recent legends from the two countries comes into being.

When contacted by Cricbuzz, a spokesperson for the England board neither denied nor confirmed the development, and were unable to comment. "This is not something we'll be able to offer you a comment on," he told on Monday (March 31) evening.

Cricbuzz understands that the family of late MAK Pataudi, a former India captain who represented the country in 46 Tests between 1961-75, has been made aware of it. "That is the understanding from the ECB," a source close to the family told this website. "Apparently trophies are retired after some time," the source said.

Sharmila Tagore, wife of the late Pataudi, has previously expressed her unhapiness over how they were treated by the ECB.

"The English team was taken away for photo opportunities and to celebrate and Tiger was left standing by the trophy. Andrew Strauss, the English captain at the time, noticed Tiger standing unsure of what to do and went over to him.

"Tiger handed him the trophy but this exchange was neither photographed nor televised. This was in August. We had gone to London especially at the invitation of the ECB for the presentation of the Pataudi Trophy and so we were naturally a little confused that things had not gone as planned as late as the official lunch time of the same day as the match.

"On our return to India Tiger fell ill and was admitted to the hospital. He passed away in September. Our family had other priorities at the time, and consequently, we could not give the matter our attention," she said in 2018 to Sportstar.

Pataudi died in September 2011 at the age of 70.

The concept of retiring a trophy is not common, but there are instances of it happening in the sport-the Wisden Trophy, played between England and West Indies, was retired, and the new prize was renamed the Richards-Botham trophy.

There are also trophies that have stood the test of time. The Ashes, for which England and Australia fight for in the longest format, has been in existence since 1982-83 when the first-ever bilateral Test series was played in England. There are also other series, including the Frank Worrell trophy (between West Indies and Australia, since 1960/61), Border-Gavaskar trophy (between India and Australia since 1996/96), Crowe-Thorpe Trophy (between New Zealand and England since 2024-25) and Warne Muralitharan Trophy (between Australia and Sri Lanka since 2007/08).

The England-India series in England was named after Pataudi in 2007 and since then the two teams have been fighting for this when India tour England. In India, of course, it is the Anthony de Mello Trophy, named after a former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). It was instituted in 1951.