MS Dhoni announced his retirement three years ago during his last match for India in the 2019 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand.
MS Dhoni’s number 7 jersey is as popular in India as the legend himself. According to a report in the Indian Express, the BCCI has retired the iconic number 7 jersey, a surprising but welcome move. This is the second time a player’s jersey has been retired in India – after Sachin Tendulkar’s number 10 jersey in 2017.
The report further states that the BCCI has informed the players that they will not be given the option to wear number 7 or 10. “Young players and current players of the Indian team have been asked not to choose the MS Dhoni jersey with number 7. The BCCI has decided to retire Dhoni’s jersey due to his contribution to the game. New players cannot get number 7 and number 10 is out of the list of available numbers. said a senior Council official, as told to The Indian Express.
“Currently, the regulars and players of the Indian team are assigned around 60 numbers. So even if a player leaves the team for about a year, we don’t pass on his number to the new player. This means that newcomers have only around 30 numbers to choose from,” said a BCCI official.
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The report further states that even Shubman Gill could not get the number 7 jersey during his stay in the U-19 team and had to settle for number 77, and this still bothers him today even in the senior team. Similarly, Yashasvi Jaiswal could not be placed at number 19 as it was the number chosen by Dinesh Karthik so the former was placed at 64th position.
