The ECB’s decision to rename the trophy for India’s Test series in England as the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy had seemed odd to many, who thought that the English pacer’s name did not quite fit beside one of the greatest batters the game has seen. Well, it turns out James Anderson himself thinks along those lines.

The former England pacer has confessed that seeing his name alongside the Sachin Tendulkar on a trophy feels “completely out of place,” though he also said that it’s an incredible honour for him to have his name associated with “one of the greatest cricketers to have ever lived”.

“It’s not necessarily just how huge it is to have a trophy named after you, but alongside Sachin Tendulkar, who for me is one of the greatest ever cricketers to have lived. I feel completely out of place when I see myself alongside him with the trophy. I hold him in such high regard,” Anderson told ‘Sky Sports’.

“I watched him as a kid, played against him. He’s just such an iconic cricketer who’s carried the weight of a nation on his shoulders throughout his career and past it as well. So, to share something like this with him is an incredible honour.”

Previously, England-India Test contests on English soil were played for the Pataudi Trophy, named after former Indian captains Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi and his son Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi.

Anderson tops the list of wicket-takers for England in Tests with 704 scalps in 188 Tests. The 42-year-old reflected on how detached he sometimes feels from the legacy he’s created.

“It is strange that when people talk about what I have achieved in cricket, like when I hear about it as if someone’s talking about someone else if that makes sense, I don’t feel it is me who has achieved all this,” he said.

Anderson brought the curtain down on his illustrious career last year, stepping aside to make way for England’s next generation of fast bowlers.

England currently lead the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2-1.