New Delhi, India

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to retire the iconic Number 7 jersey, which veteran captain MS Dhoni used to wear, in tribute to his contribution to Indian cricket. A board official close to the information revealed the players in the national team have been informed about this, mainly the debutants, who cannot pick Number 7 for their jersey.

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Outside of Dhoni, only legendary Sachin Tendulkar’s Number 10 jersey has been retired in the past, with no one allowed to pick these two numbers.

“The young players and current Indian team players have been told not to pick M S Dhoni’s Number 7 jersey. The BCCI has decided to retire Dhoni’s T-shirt for his contribution to the game. A new player can’t get No. 7, and No. 10 was already off the list of available numbers,” said a senior Board official.

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Per ICC rules, every player can choose a number from 1 to 100, while those playing for India can only pick from limited options. 

“At present, 60-odd numbers are designated to the regulars in the Indian team and those in contention. So even if a player is out of the team for about a year or so, we don’t give away his number to a new player. That means a recent debutant has just 30-odd numbers to choose from,” the BCCI official added.

A few instances from the past

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Meanwhile, when the 21-year-old Yashasvi Jaiswal was about to make his India debut, he chose Number 19 for his India jersey – the same number he used to don while playing for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. However, because cricketer-turned-commentator Dinesh Karthik was designated Number 19, Jaiswal had to pick an alternate number (64).

On the junior level (during the U-19 days), the young Shubman Gill wanted the Number 7 jersey, but because MS Dhoni had already been designated the same number jersey, Gill chose Number 77. Even after getting promoted to the senior side (Indian Team), Gill continues to don the Number 77 jersey.

In 2017, India seam-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur took the field wearing the Number 10 jersey – and got trolled on social media, with the “Trying to be Sachin” hashtag trending in India. The BCCI had to intervene and thus retired the Number 10 jersey in honour of Sachin Tendulkar. Shardul chose Number 54 as his jersey number.

With two top players, Virat Kohli (18) and Rohit Sharma (45) around, the BCCI might also retire their jersey numbers following their retirement from international cricket.