India vs England: Monty Panesar explains why the Test series should be called ‘Tendulkar-Cook trophy’

Panesar, who played a crucial role in England’s 2-1 Test series win during the 2012 tour of India, explained that both the former cricketers have played a lot against each other.

Former England spinner Monty Panesar's latest idea of giving a new name to the India vs England Test series has created a buzz on social media. On Wednesday, he came up with a tweet suggesting that the rubber should be named after two legendary batsmen – Sachin Tendulkar and Alastair Cook and should be called as 'Tendulkar-Cook Trophy'.

Indian captain Virat Kohli (L) and England Captain Joe Root (R) posing with the Anthony De Mello Trophy (Twitter)

Panesar, who played a crucial role in England’s 2-1 Test series win during the 2012 tour of India, also explained that both the former cricketers have played a lot against each other. He also said that Tendulkar is the ‘biggest legend’ of the game and there is no series named after him.

“Eng v India test series should be called ‘Tendulkar Cook trophy’ because both have highest test runs for their countries, they played a lot against each other and we know Tendulkar is the biggest legend and we don,t have a series named after him,” tweeted Panesar.

Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar remains the only cricketer to have played 200 Test matches. He retired with 15,921 runs and 51 centuries to his name. Sachin is also the all-time highest run-scorer in the longest format of the game. On the other hand, Alastair Cook scored 12, 472 runs in 161 games, the most from England in Test cricket.

Meanwhile, a fan asked – ‘why not Bhajji-Panesar Trophy’, and Panesar came up with a fitting reply.

“‘Harbhajan Panesar trophy’ would have worked if I had 300 plus test wickets,” wrote Panesar.

Joe Root’s England won the opening Test by 227 runs and went up 1-0 in the 4-match series. Both teams will now lock horns in the second Test which begins on Saturday at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.