India, June 7 -- In 2007, ahead of the 75th anniversary of India's entry into Test cricket (their first game was against England at Lord's in June 1932), the Pataudi Trophy was instituted as the coveted prize for the winner of the series between the two teams on English soil. The Anthony S De Mello Trophy, named after one of the two founding fathers of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, was the corresponding silverware for victors of Indo-England showdowns in India.

The naming of the trophy after the Pataudi father-son duo - Iftikhar Ali Khan played for both England and India, while 'Tiger' Mansur remains India's youngest Test captain - was welcomed as thoughtful, sensitive, laudatory. There was more than mere tokenism to the nom...