India cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar is extremely confident of Shubman Gill’s new Team India faring well against England in the highly anticipated five-Test series that gets underway with the first match at Leeds on Friday. The confidence is almost comparable to when he took guard, 23 summers ago, to score a smashing 193 in India’s innings and 46 runs victory over Nasser Hussain’s England at the same Headingley ground where Gill’s side will take on Ben Stokes & Co.

Buoyed by this confidence, in an interview with mid-day, Tendulkar firmly disagrees with expert opinions that this bunch of Indian players lack experience. He also stresses on how Indian teams have, in the past, successfully churned out new generations.

He claims this series is “pretty special” to him as his surname and that of England’s legendary pacer James Anderson will jointly form the competition’s ultimate prize, the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. He is also pleased to explain how he initiated the Pataudi Medal, given the Pataudi Trophy has been retired.