KalingaTV News Network
Mumbai: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday decided to “unofficially” retire the iconic No.10 blue jersey for international matches.
The No.10 jersey, worn by Sachin Tendulkar throughout his career in ODIs and one T20 international match, will henceforth be associated only with the man himself.
Tendulkar had last worn No. 10 jersey in March 2012 while playing against his last ODI against Pakistan.
The decision to retire the jersey comes as it creates unnecessary pressure on the player that wears the jersey to emulate the legend, for some “The God of Cricket”.
“It unnecessarily creates controversy and players get criticised. So, it’s better to retire the number unofficially. Players, though, can wear it when they play for India A or for say a non-international list A match but not during an international,” said a BCCI official.
Ever since Tendulkar retired in 2013, nobody had worn the No.10 jersey until Shardul Thakur in the recent tour of Sri Lanka. The debutant chose the No. 10 jersey which created a massive uproar among cricket fans on social media.
It is not an isolated case for sports associations to retire a jersey after a legend of the game. Cricket Australia had retired the no. 64 jersey after the tragic death of Phil Hughes. Similarly in other sports, jerseys have been retired after great players like Pele (NY Cosmos – No. 10), Diego Maradona (Napoli – No. 10), Javier Zanetti (Inter Milan – No. 4), Johan Cruyff (Ajax – No. 14), Kobe Bryant (LA Lakers – No. 8 & 24) etc.
Ms Kalinga