BCCI Retires No. 7 Jersey to Honor Dhoni’s Contribution to Indian Cricket

GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 15th Dec. The BCCI has made the decision to retire the No. 7 jersey of World Cup-winning captain M S Dhoni as an honour to his significant contributions to Indian cricket.

Dhoni, an iconic captain for India, last played for the country in the 2019 World Cup semi final against New Zealand. He announced his retirement on August 15, 2020, and since then, no other player has worn the No. 7 shirt.

Even the legendary Sachin Tendulkar’s No. 10 jersey has not been worn by any other player since his retirement in 2013, except for pacer Shardul Thakur, who chose No. 10 for his ODI debut against Sri Lanka in 2017. However, Thakur faced heavy criticism on social media for this decision.

Since then, no player has worn a jersey with the number 10 on the back.

According to BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla, the Board took the decision on Thursday. ”He is a legendary player. His contribution to Indian as well as world cricket is immense. To honour his contribution, the decision to retire number seven has been taken by the BCCI,” Shukla told PTI.

Retiring jerseys of great players is also a common practice in other sports. For example, the Chicago Bulls retired the No. 23 jersey worn by basketball legend Michael Jordan after his retirement.

Indian wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik, who played alongside Dhoni, was one of the first to call for the retirement of the No. 7 jersey after Dhoni’s retirement in 2020. Both Karthik and Dhoni were part of the ill-fated World Cup semifinal against New Zealand.

“Hope the BCCI retires the No. 7 jersey in white ball cricket,” Karthik had posted at that time.