Former India National Cricket Team batter Sanjay Manjrekar has said that the quality of cricket on display in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025 was not very good.
Sanjay Manjrekar said that the bowling attacks of India and England were “one of the weakest” he has seen in a high-profile series featuring two big teams.
The Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy ended in a draw
India and England engaged in a high-profile series across June, July, and August and thoroughly entertained the fans by playing an amazing brand of cricket across all 25 days of play.
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Players of both teams gave their all on the field, and in the end, the series ended in a 2-2 draw, which was a fair reflection of the fight put up by India and England.
England started the series with a stunning 5-wicket victory at Headingley in Leeds before India made an unbelievable comeback to register a 336-run win at Edgbaston in Birmingham.
Then, the thrilling third Test match at Lord’s in London was won by England by 22 runs, and the fourth Test ended in a draw at Old Trafford in Manchester. In the fifth and final Test, India sealed a terrific 6-run win at Kennington Oval in London.
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Was floored by the performance of young India – Sanjay Manjrekar
In his column for Hindustan Times, the former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar said that he was in awe of the performance delivered by a young Indian team against England. He said:
“I must confess, I, too, like you, was floored by the performance of young India in an overseas, exhaustive Test series of 5 Test matches, each Test match lasting 5 days.
“Firstly, my feeling about young India batters does not change, my chest is still pumped in the way (Yashasvi) Jaiswal, (Shubman) Gill, (KL) Rahul, (Rishabh) Pant, (Ravindra) Jadeja and even (Washington Sundar) Washy batted. I won’t tire saying that in this age of T20 cricket, what these T20 compatible batters have done is nothing short of phenomenal.”
“And we are not talking only about results here… it’s how these results were achieved, it was through hardcore old fashioned Test batting of the extreme kind, defending for hours with a still bat, leaving balls outside off, ball after ball, when rest of the year these same batters are trying to hit a 6 off every ball, it was not just unbelievable but even hard to fathom.”
Was the cricket of the highest quality? No, it wasn’t – Sanjay Manjrekar
Sanjay Manjrekar further said that it was a great Test series from India’s perspective because even in the absence of big names, the visitors managed to deliver impressive performances. He said:
“That all this happened in front of packed audiences was icing on the cake! A great Test series played in front of an audience & a country that truly loves Test cricket. Yes, it was a great Test series in many ways, especially for Indian fans a team devoid of all the big names, most of them on their first tour of England and that virtually every match finished so close was a much-needed blessing for Test cricket. So as a spectacle, it was two months of brilliance”
Sanjay Manjrekar, however, was against the idea of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy being one of the best series in recent memory.
Sanjay Manjrekar felt that the highest quality of cricket was not on display, especially because of the weak bowling attacks of both teams. He stated:
“Great series for fans, yes great result for Indian cricket lovers yes, great advertisement for Test cricket yes, but what about quality? Was the cricket of the highest quality? No, it wasn’t. For starters, sorry to burst the bubble, it has to be one of the weakest bowling attacks from both sides that I have seen in a series featuring two mainstream teams.”
Notably, the likes of Mohammed Siraj, Ben Stokes, Josh Tongue, Jasprit Bumrah, and Gus Atkinson looked terrific with the ball, but the others struggled.
