Give it a great name then!

Four Test matches on therersquos still no mention from the establishment about the Anthony de Mello Trophy which the winners of the India v England series on Indian soil used to be presented with The sponsorrsquos trophy has been mentioned time and again during the television coverage but not the trophy named after the BCCIrsquos first secretary as well as former presidentWith BCCI choosing to make do without mentioning the Anthony de Mello Trophy therersquos a good chance that the silverware wonrsquot make it to Dharamsala the venue of the fifth and final Test of the ongoing seriesIn that scenario it is imperative that England and India play for a trophy of historic significance like the Pataudi Trophy when both these countries play Tests in EnglandAn India v England series in India is important and there is no reason why this wonrsquot be a rivalry spoken of in the same breath as India v AustraliaThe tremendous interest this ongoing series has generated virtually mandates a series name If at all the BCCI decides that the Anthony de Mello Trophy is redundant an announcement of a series in honour of one player or two players must be made at the end of the Dharamsala Test a la BorderGavaskar TrophyConsidering all this I indulged in a bit of fantasy and factored in the mileage the BCCI would want to give the sponsors presumably the same bank as this series How about tagging it the BediGreig Trophy for IDFC First Bank Test series next time It would be an apt honour to both these departed captains Tony Greig was Bishan Singh Bedirsquos rival captain in 197677 and ended up being one of the few skippers to beat India on their home soil only Douglas Jardine had done it before mdash in 193334Greig was on the previous tour of India in 197273 as a key member of Tony Lewisrsquos side The crowds adored him and Greig was moved to write in My Story ldquoI fell in love with the Indian crowds and they in turn seemed to fall for merdquoAmidst the thrill of playing in front of large crowds Greig also learned some lessons which were useful in 197677 when he was captain Just like on his first tour England won the opening Test at New Delhi Greig was determined that the team shouldnrsquot get carried like they probably did in 197273 when they ended up losing the next two Tests and eventually the series to Ajit Wadekarrsquos IndiansSensing his players may not be able to improve on the 10 lead in 197677 he gave them a pep talk to ldquojolt them back into an awareness of prioritiesrdquo The team responded and the Marylebone Cricket Club MCC won the Anthony de Mello Trophy 31Bedi claimed 25 wickets each in the 197273 and 197677 series with 671 being his best effort across both rubbers mdashat Bangalore in 197677mdash when India scored a consolation win after the series was surrenderedThe cares of captaincy and the scoreline didnrsquot affect Bedirsquos guile He dismissed his opposite number in a memorable fashion in the second innings Greig had just hit BS Chandrasekhar for a four which the Chinnaswamy Stadium crowd thought was a six and followed it up with a crisp cover drive ldquoSuch liberties could not be taken with Bedi possessor of a mastery of flight peerless amongst modern bowlers He Bedi dismissed the headstrong aggressive batsman Greig in the classical manner tossing the ball up on Greigrsquos legstump Down the pitch came Englandrsquos captain intent on hitting the ball high into the crowd but he missed and Kirmani quick as a cobra did the restrdquo wrote Christopher MartinJenkins in MCC in India 197677So no matter how controversial and antiestablishment Bedi and Greig were they get my vote for the trophy India and England should play for on Indian soilI asked other journalists for their opinions on this subject and they came up with interesting names Sharda Ugra the highly acclaimed sports writer felt the series should be played in memory of Palwankar Baloo if not CK Nayudu or Lala Amarnath Baloo who faced discrimination for his caste was on the All Indian teamrsquos tour of England in 1911 and claimed 114 wickets on the tour with his leftarm spinDelhibased cricket historian Gulu Ezekiel felt the teams should play for the CK NayuduJardine Trophy They led their respective countries at the start of the rivalry in England 1932 and India 193334G Rajaraman veteran sports journalist from Delhi would like to see the trophy named after Kapil Dev and Ian Botham while Siddhartha Vaidyanathan a popular podcaster and writer wished to see a trophy in Nayudursquos honour for ldquohis 153 v Arthur Gilliganrsquos English side in 1926 and for leading India in their firstever Test at Lordrsquos in 1932rdquoThe 153 was scored for the Hindus at the Bombay Gymkhana where he hit 14 fours to thrill the 25000 strong December crowd Among them was a 15yearold schoolboy who went on to become the man we all know as Vijay MerchantMerchant referred to the 153 when Nayudu passed away in 1967 ldquoThe best I have seen in this country or elsewhere from the bat of an IndianrdquoMerchantrsquos words were reproduced by late historian and firstclass cricketer Vasant Raiji in his 1989 book on Nayudu He also quoted Nayudursquos biographer Berry Sarbadhikaryrsquos description of the innings ldquoHe hit up an amazing 153 with strokes which terrified the fieldsmen dazzled everybodyrsquos eyesight broke all rules of batting science and logic and stirred the crowd to wonder and delightrdquoFrom Sydney Australian cricket writer Mike Coward added a JardineNayudu Trophy to his wish list and affixed his choice with a message ldquoIt JardineNayudu Trophy can be used as a teaching tool which is important given the perception that Indian cricket began in 1983 and came of age in 2007 Deflect attention from the short forms and celebrate the pure formrdquo said CowardClearly amidst the brouhaha of the welldeserved series win history beckons Indian cricket in another sensemiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzelloSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper