James Anderson on Monday said Sachin Tendulkar is someone he looked up to when he was growing up, after it was revealed that the trophy for the England-India Test series would be named after the two legendary cricketers.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and BCCI are expected to formally reveal the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy in the lead-up to the five-Test series between India and England, starting on June 20 at Leeds.
“It's a huge honour. 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," Anderson told ESPNCricinfo.
"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." Talking about his experience of playing against India, Anderson said, "There are some great memories, I always loved playing against India. I’d say, after the Ashes, it was the series that England look forward to the most." “I obviously had some tough times in India, it's a really hard place to go, but we won there which was a really special moment, and some of the battles we had in England were great. They had some amazing players." Anderson said India have put together a “strong squad” for the series in England following retirements of batting greats Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
"This series is going to be exactly the same as you'd expect. I know India are going through a little bit of change with a new captain (Shubman Gill), and losing (Virat) Kohli and (Rohit) Sharma, but I still think they've got a strong squad with some really exciting players.
“England obviously are trying to play a certain way. It lends itself to a really exciting series,” he added.
Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.