BCCI to 'unofficially' retire Sachin Tendulkar's No.10 jersey

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to retire the Jersey No.10 for international matches which was worn by batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar.

“It unnecessarily creates controversy and players get criticised,” a BCCI official was quoted as saying by The Indian Express. “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.”

"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," a BCCI official told PTI.

"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 referring to the trolling Thakur was subjected to for wearing the number.

There is no precedence of a jersey number being retired in honour of a player in international cricket. Tendulkar's IPL team, the Mumbai Indians, had, however, retired the No.10 shirt in his honour.

Tendulkar, who till date is the only batsman to have scored 100 international centuries donned the Jersey bearing No.10 till he retired from international cricket in 2013.

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar's illustrious career lasted exactly 24 years and a day in which he played 200 Test matches, 463 ODIs and a lone T20 scoring 34,357 international runs.

Since his retirement, Jersey No.10 was not used for almost five years before Mumbai fast bowler Shardul Thakur chose no 10 during his ODI debut against Sri Lanka in Colombo last August.

In no time, he was trolled on social media. In an interview, he revealed the real reason behind wearing the Jersey No.10 number. He also added that 10 is the sum total of his date of birth i.e 16th October, 1991.

Iconic jersey numbers have always had a strong emotive appeal in international football but even FIFA has never allowed any particular number being retired in honour of a player.

However, clubs have done so, the most famous instance being Italian team Napoli retiring Maradona's No.10 jersey to honour his legendary stint with the side.

With PTI input