India-England Tests: Pataudi Trophy being retired

MUMBAI: India’s five-Test series in England starting on June 20 will not be played for the Pataudi Trophy, according to Indian newspapers.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has written to Saif Ali Khan, the actor son of former India captain late Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, about retiring the trophy.

The decision is yet to be made official. “We don’t have any comment on the story at the moment,” an ECB spokesperson said.

BCCI officials were not available for comment.

India’s Test series in England since 2007 has been played for the Pataudi Trophy, after the Marylebone Cricket Club, guardians of cricket’s laws based at the Lord’s ground, proposed the idea to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the first India-England Test played in 1932. The suggestion didn’t come from BCCI or ECB. Mansur’s father Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi played Tests for both England and India. He passed away in September 2011.