The Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) has ‘unofficially’ retired the famous No.10 jersey worn by the legendary Sachin Tendulkar for India’s international matches.
Tendulkar had adorned the jersey while playing for India in ODIs and a sole T20I. He had last worn the No.10 jersey for India in March 2012 in an ODI against Pakistan. The ‘Master Blaster’ retired from all forms of cricket in November 2013.
The No.10 jersey was unused for five year since his retirement before pacer Shardul Thakur took up the number in his ODI debut for India against Sri Lanka in Colombo this August.
The decision to take up the jersey number associated with the legend did not do down well with the masses it seems with many fans trolling the bowler on social media for his choice.
Pacer Shardul Thakur had worn the No.10 jersey in his India ODI debut.
Thakur had later issued a clarification that he had picked the number for numerological reasons.
A BCCI official said that the jersey remains ‘unofficially’ retired as the ICC does not allow the permanent retirement of an international jersey.
“It’s a very individual choice. If players don’t want to wear a certain number, one can’t force them. ICC might just tell you that a team can’t officially retire a jersey but it would never tell you that it’s mandatory to wear that number,” the BCCI official had told PTI on Wednesday.
“The BCCI has not taken any such call (retiring the No.10 jersey). It’s a very informal thing among players. Also you don’t want young players to be abused like it happened with Shardul Thakur,” he added.
While Tendulkar’s former IPL franchise Mumbai Indians has officially retired the batsman’s famous jersey, there is no precedent for a number being retired in international cricket.