As a mark of respect to India's World Cup-winning captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has, reportedly, retired his iconic number 7 jersey. If the reports are true, it will be the second instance of a shirt number being retired, after Sachin Tendulkar's legendary no. 10.
BCCI has, reportedly, also informed the Team India players of the decision and conveyed to them that the no. 7 jersey will not be available, just like no. 10.
As per ICC's rules, players can pick any number between 1 and 100, but, in India, the option is limited to 60-odd numbers. Even if a player is out of the team for around an year, his number is not given away, as per reports. For instance, The Indian Express reported that Yashasvi Jaiswal wanted no. 19 jersey – the one he wears at Rajasthan Royals – but he had to settle for no. 64 since no. 19 was designated to Dinesh Karthik though he has not been part of the team recently.
Interestingly, all-rounder Shardul Thakur started off for India wearing the no. 10 jersey, only to be trolled on social media. BCCI soon retired the jersey and he switched to no. 54.
In other sports, too, certain jersey numbers have been retired as a tribute to a legendary player. Be it no. 10 at Italian Serie A football club Napoli for Argentine legend Diego Maradona, or the no. 23 shirt at Chicago Bulls as a mark of respect to basketball icon Michael Jordan.
