James Anderson and Sachin Tendulkar talk India-England rivalry and NEW Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy

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This summer’s Test series between England and India will be played for a new trophy named after legendary pair Sachin Tendulkar and James Anderson. Michael Atherton sits down with both to talk all things about the series.

#jimmyanderson #sachintendulkar #cricket

00:00 – Anderson-Tendulkar trophy
02:48 – Anderson praises Tendulkar
04:25 – England-India series magnitude
06:16 – Tendulkar on Anderson impact
08:43 – Anderson vs Tendulkar
11:30 – Great series moments
16:08 – England chances vs India in 2025
17:18 – Shubman Gill captaincy
19:45 – Yashasvi Jaiswal
20:29 – Test cricket future

*Correction to the Sachin Tendulkar strap, should read ‘scored 2535 runs in 32 Tests v England’.

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well here it is the Anderson Tendulkar Trophy um a question to both of you really how proud are you that this new trophy which commemorate the England India Series named after you yeah I think it’s amazing i’m hugely honored to to have something like this especially alongside Sachin someone I’ve played against grew up watching and you know for someone who’s achieved so much in the game it’s great to to share something like this you have achieved immense things in the game section but an honor that you’re proud of as well this is massive and uh you know to be sharing this trophy you know with with Jimmy as uh you know we’ve been honored by our respective boards it’s it’s a special feeling you know when I started playing cricket as a kid uh I all I wanted to do in life was to play cricket for India and everything whatever happened after that was uh consequential and uh you know the the heart always was all about cricket and nothing else and as the time went by where the journey had begun from my heart the brain started functioning a bit and where to score runs especially when Jimmy is bowling what to play and what not to play all those kind of things so you know to to be sitting here sharing this with with Jimmy is is is an honor it it feels wonderful it’s important to note that the Pati legacy will continue because that name will be given now to a medal that will go to the winning captain at the end of this series absolutely and I’m so happy about it when I when I got to know about the trophy being named after Jimmy and I uh yes of course it was a fabulous moment special one but at the same time you know I’ve always respected my peers you know be it on the field or off the field their contribution should never be forgotten and uh I picked up the phone and I spoke to Pati family as well and uh that’s when the conversation was we will keep his legacy alive in in in some manner the best possible manner and uh that’s when I picked up the phone and spoke to Mr jesa BCCI and and ECB as well and uh very graciously they agreed to introduce something new which hasn’t happened before uh in and uh uh the Pawi family’s name uh the the medal of Pawa Medal of Excellence to the winning captain and uh Mr pawi was uh known for his leadership so I think it’s it’s a it’s a good match played against each other 14 times but by the time that came around Sachin was about 17 years into his career I mean there is an age gap there’s a 10 year age gap between you so was he somebody that as a boy you you were watching on television and in test cricket yeah of course I think especially because he he came over as uh overseas for Yorkshire as well so I’d seen a decent amount of him um but I wasn’t prepared I think it was the first my first tour to India I wasn’t prepared for the reaction that he got when he came out to bat that that noise is something else and it was only then I realized how um you know how big a thing it was for for the country that um you know what Sachin had achieved by then so um yeah for me it just it was really special i think that that Indian team that first tour I think it was 2006 maybe you know the whole team was full of uh these legends that I’d grown up watching so it was a really special thing for me to to be involved in when he got his first test 100 you were 8 years old he got it at our ground Old Trafford any memories at all of that no I was I didn’t go to that game um when I was growing up it was all all about the Ashes that’s the one thing that I wanted to play in and I I don’t think that England versus India was actually as big as it as it has got um and certainly throughout my career I feel like it’s just got bigger and bigger each time we’ve played we we’ve gone from playing a three test series to a four test series and now a five test series and yeah for me now at the back end of my career it was definitely the just underneath the ashes in in terms of sort of importance or um you know the feeling you got when you played in it you the nerves there i think that was I think now it’s exactly the same for the guys who are going to be playing uh this week is that something you recognize as well Sachin the the growth in the series or the importance the size of the series because I played a little bit against you and and played a lot but I only played one test match in India in the in the out of the 115 that I played so England India in the early 90s was not a big thing when did you think that it started to to become more of a consequential series i thought from 90 in 96 we played three test matches which was fairly okay but in 2002 we played four test matches and that’s when it started getting big before that it was quite subdued 2002 onwards you know there were different results different outcomes and uh that that resulted in more eyeballs uh more people turning up uh I felt uh Indians started traveling more so so the difference between the ’90s and now is there are a lot more Indians traveling yeah lot more Indians possibly settled here and uh that’s that’s uh helped us to fill stands more engagement more encouragement I remember watching one of the world cup matches and uh I was sitting with uh I think Michael J or I think Michael won and he said doesn’t seem like we are playing in England this is more like playing in India against England so such was the support so so we really appreciated that i also sorry I also think that what that stood out for me the 2002 it wasn’t necessarily the test series but the one day series cuz I think all the big series need rivalries and the flint off Ganguli moment um that was that then creates a a story line and then that I think yeah and I think from there it just sort of escalated yeah and when Jimmy came along in 2006 um did you recognize that he was going to be a special bowler immediately did you sense that right from the start well I first time I heard about Jimmy was when Nasu spoke highly about him i said “This is the bowler to look out for.” And uh I don’t think even Nasser imagined at that time with the longevity of his career the the focus the discipline the motivation I think motivation is something which you know keeps you going but I think it’s the discipline which has helped him grow to become a a great bowler you know he was what was the particular challenge facing him his his wrist position and then you know uh he on flat surfaces to to get the ball to talk i think he had that ability and then as a batter you’re constantly watching the wrist position the shine of the ball and somewhere earlier I had uh gone on record saying that he possibly was the only bowler who bowled reverse swing reverse and and I haven’t had a chat with him some stage I would like to have a chat with him but that is something that I saw from from 22 yards because he would hold the ball when the ball was reversing there were occasions where the shine was on the outside so the ball is meant to go away and the wrist position was kind of pushing the ball back in and uh batters normally look at the wrist position and you play when you’re not picking the shiny side and the rough side then you look at the wrist position and that is what you know he got us to commit and when the ball was like 8 10 yards away from us the ball started leaving because the shiny side was on the outside and he had already got the batter to come in so I don’t know whether that was his plan to do or you know he was just experimenting with it tell me about your plans for Satch you had a bit of success against him got him out nine times in the 14 tests which I think is the most of any bowler that that that got you out but when I played against Satch most batters when you play against them you think well there might be a little here or a bit of a technical glitch there but wasn’t obvious to me how we should try and get him out how did you plan and prepare to try and get fat out i don’t think there still now there’s not an obvious glitch in the technique i wasn’t we we you know you have meetings about batters and plans for for certain people um but with Sachin there wasn’t that necessarily um solid plan it was just trying to bowl your best ball and hopefully um want to get through the defense i think here in England it it I think against anyone I I always felt more comfortable i felt like you always had a chance because there’d be something there for you whether it’s seen movement off the pitch or swing through the air um but I definitely felt like I needed that um you you need that against the best players and certainly Sachin was one of those and same in India you I need a reverse swing like if it was flat and not moving then you know it’s going to be a long day but if there’s movement there then I always felt in the game and especially in your early days you liked a bit of niggle in the middle you like to have a bit of engagement with the batter but he was somebody who’d be very much in his own world in his own bubble did you find that frustrating that you couldn’t kind of get a reaction yeah I do find that frustrating but I’ I’ve not I don’t think I’ve played against anyone who had that more than than Sachin he had like a force field around him he’d just be in this zone his eyes completely focused on what he was doing and whether you’re talking to him he’d he’d look past you or or just ignore it completely i don’t even know if he was hearing it but it was kind of just Yeah in the zone um so frustrating at times yeah for me because I you know I we’re you know talking about India versus England in recent times it’s been Virat Kohley who’s who’s been the the challenge for me and um he’s someone who much more of a reaction you get much more of a reaction he much more emotional um you can see what he’s thinking and um and was that deliberate to play the ball and not the man and not get involved in a kind of one-on-one battle with the bowler i would engage in you know some kind of reaction or altercation only when I wanted to only when I felt it was needed to disturb the bowler but I if I felt that you know I was in a good space there’s no need to disturb the bowler then I wouldn’t do it but there have been occasions where I’ve started uh the conversation and just to rattle the bowler uh I think it’s about owning the 22 yards that you know whether you are bowling or you’re batting it’s about the ownership of those 22 yards couple of key performances in in England India contest i ask you about the Chennai 100 which was a very memorable and emotional 100 given the context of what what had happened correct uh you know after that terrorist strike the the series was put on hold uh I remember England traveling to Dubai and uh England team was based in Dubai for four or five days and very graciously England team decided to come back thanks to ECB i want to officially go on record wanting to thank uh ECB on behalf of uh all the Indian well-wishes of uh cricket and uh uh you know the the that was very much needed for Indian cricket for the English team to return back to India and play the series it meant a lot to all of us and uh for the first three and a half days thought we were playing a catching up game and then suddenly after three and a half days you know we started picking wickets Zahir started Zahir got uh three wickets and then just towards the end of the day’s play in in about 90 minutes or so Sewak went berserk he played some incredible shots and on that track which I felt England had possibly the best bowling attack it was Jimmy Harisonson uh Flintto Montipanisar and Swan so he had everything covered and and the ball ball turn on the last day to chase 374 wasn’t wasn’t an easy task especially against a world-class attack but we got into some good partnerships and then we finished really strong with U and I scoring runs uh I I still remember that match uh when the postmatch when we were sitting in the dressing room we could not believe that we had won the game from that position because for 3 days considering how the uh the mental state was not just the cricket team but the entire nation I mean it was very very fragile and uh we were not in the right frame of mind to play test cricket uh when uh when when the match got over and of it was I felt it was the most meaningful 100 of my life i don’t think uh there has been any hund which has meant more to me can I ask you about your performance in Kolkata in in 2012 13 i mean you you’ve taken five wickets here at Lords twice against India but the beauty of taking wickets in India in unfamiliar conditions you probably early on in your career weren’t as comfortable as you became much later and also winning a series in India is that more difficult than winning down under or how would you how would you place that win um probably on a par I’d say I think just because going to India you’re not necessarily used to the the conditions it is very very different you’re looking for reverse swing you know the different skills needed cutters and things like that you’re trying to find different ways of getting wickets than you would in England so but that that series we I just felt like um again the spinners bowl brilliantly and then it allowed us to the seamers to to just come back on when the ball’s reversing and you you’ve got something in your favor uh Kolk Cottter I remember was um I think it was just keeping a bit low maybe um and coming back into the it just brought the stumps into play and it felt like you were you could be really threatening um but also in that series our batters got got runs and played the spin really well and I think if to win in India you need to put runs on the board to to create some pressure performances like that i think you got three wickets in either innings do they give you a little bit more pleasure sometimes than maybe the seven for 40 when the ball is hooping everywhere in England yeah of course i think some of my my favorite performances for England were were abroad and like that the 10 11 ashes um I didn’t get five wickets in in the series but took 24 overall so you’re contributing to a to a series win similarly in in India 2012 was was the same it was not getting you know the five for six it was it was get chipping away and and contributing towards a historic series win so I think you get more satisfaction from that than than taking wickets in familiar conditions you played in a a series win here for India there haven’t been many 71 86 2007 what chances of this Indian team doing that if you look at our bowling attack we we are obviously missing Shami and Ashwin from the bowling attack we had earlier uh so the bowling attack 85 90% more or less there seam bowling attack uh I think uh It it could be a very very closely fought series because uh we’ve got a nice nice balance of uh some experienced guys who’ve uh who’ve not played much of international cricket but someone like Karun Nyer he’s been around for a while he’s 33 34 and someone who has tasted success at international level having scored a triple 100 against South Africa so so he’s against England actually in Chennai which in I’m not sure you were playing in the game but I I was there was oh England yeah so and then he was dropped stand corrected yeah next game I mean uh I think he was if I’m not mistaken he had replaced Virat at that stage Virat was unfit so you know new captain Shubman is he is he the right man to take India forward Shubman is a talented player and uh uh very very eager to go out and compete hard bring laurels to the nation uh I have I have faith in him whatever I have seen I’ve interacted a bit with him uh but but he’s a he’s a good student of the game and whatever I have seen him in in IPL T20 leading Gujarat uh he’s been impressive i don’t know what number he’ll bat he may bat number four in which case he’s coming in Virat held that number four position for many years and you before him so he’s stepping into some mighty shoes if he has to fill that position yeah with with time you know uh you have to keep moving forwards and then game game is such where a number of generations come they build a solid foundation they inspire the next generation and that is what has happened and I mean uh Virat has been instrumental in inspiring so many young cricketers and before that there were so many uh exceptionally talented cricketers who inspired us so so you need heroes to inspire you and to go out and and start that beautiful journey and I’m hoping that Schuman does something really special on this tour and owns that number he’s somebody you’ve had a little bit of success against Shubman Gill and his record overseas and indeed in here here in England albeit a small sample size is not fantastic do you think England will see that as just a potential opportunity to chip away at this this summer in this series yeah I think so but I you know someone like Shumman you can’t take for granted because we he’s got hundreds against us in India he’s a fantastic player and he’s now got experience of playing in England i think the captaincy will you know it can potentially just add a little bit of more fuel to the fire for someone like him um so I don’t think England will be um taking him it lightly at all i think similarly the the rest of the back lineup you know you a lot’s made when when teams come here because the conditions are are foreign and generally do move around or can move around quite a lot um but I think you know I having played a lot against India and a lot of the players that are in this squad I think um you can’t take any anything ask you about one of them your Shazi Jwell you played against in the last series there how impressed were you in that series with him yeah incredibly impressed I I think he for such a young guy the way he the maturity he showed when he when he battered um you know he’s obviously got a huge amount of uh shots a lot of options when he bats um but he was so mature in the way he used them and the way he built an innings and I think he yeah he’s a he’s going to be a a great player for India for for years to come um but I look down that batt batting lineup and I think that you know all of them on paper are fantastic but as I said the the conditions here can be tricky at times and it it will be whichever batting lineup can can deal with them the best final question if I may we’re sat here at the World Test Championship final it’s just concluded actually um game is changing at a rapid rate um from your perspective in India will the interest be as big as ever in this five match series and are you confident that you know test cricket can take something from a series like this to perhaps be be as strong as ever in years to come it’s it’s growing without any doubt it’s growing and the interest level is very very high uh this is a a transitional period for Indian cricket uh where youngsters have come in and uh they’ll be taking they’ll be uh you know taking a fresh card and moving forward uh I’m sure these guys have huge following back home and uh like I said you know you need heroes who inspire you this is their best chance to do that you know it’s it’s not going to be easy Because you know uh without uh Rohit without Virat and Ashwin you know people have been talking about just Rohit and Virat but I think Ashwin also played a major role in inspiring a lot of youngsters so so I feel without them it’s going to be challenging and this is one challenge which I I very much know that the team will not shy away from they’ll they’ll be up for it and they’ll motivate the next generation and you’ve just come out of the England dressing room you’ve also been coaching in there is this next generation going to be as committed as you’ve been to the five-day game i certainly think so yeah I think um you know certainly from a bowling perspective there’s obviously more opportunities around the world now in terms of franchise cricket and things like that but I when I see bowlers coming into the group there’s still that hunger there to play test cricket to to do well at it that I don’t you know that I can see them getting the same satisfaction that I got when I played test cricket when you win a fiveday test match there’s no better feeling than that nothing satisfies the hunger for the game more than that and I think you do get there is a a better feeling of of working a batter over and and and getting wickets in a in a slightly different way and I think I I can definitely see that hunger in the the guys come the oval who’s going to be holding the Anderson Sandulka trophy india india india thanks for your time lovely thank you