Why did Mukesh Kumar wear Virat Kohli’s Test Jersey No.18? BCCI explains

Fans were outraged when pacer Mukesh Kumar sported No 18 jersey in the India A vs England Lions match. The jersey number belonged to Virat Kohli, an Indian icon. With him retiring from Test cricket, the jersey number is now vacant. With fans bashing the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for handing over the iconic jersey number to Mukesh, the Indian board has given an explanation.

”Mukesh wore No. 18 during the opening ‘Test’ match versus Lions. But when it comes to India A squad, there are no fixed numbers as jerseys don’t have names. Anyone can pick any random number. The jersey numbers are only sacrosanct for international games,” News agency PTI quoted a senior BCCI official as saying.

The backlash isn’t new. When Shardul Thakur sported jersey number 10 in an ODI match in Sri Lanka, there was a huge outrage. Shardul changed his jersey number. The iconic No 10 jersey belonged to Sachin Tendulkar.

Will BCCI retire Virat Kohli’s No 18?

While the Number 18 is currently vacant in the India Test team after Virat Kohli’s retirement, the BCCI is unlikely to offer anyone else the chance to wear it. Kohli, even though not in the same league as India’s other Test greats, is India’s best Test captain. In addition, Kohli is still an active player in ODIs.

Hence, even though Arshdeep Singh and Sai Sudharsan will get new jersey numbers having received Test call-ups, they will get different numbers. In India A matches, jersey numbers are not allocated randomly. While Mukesh Kumar is not in the Test squad for the India vs England series, if he returns to the squad, he will wear number 49, the original number allocated to him.

While there is no official jersey retirement ceremony in India cricket, the BCCI does not offer the same iconic jersey numbers to other players. Sachin Tendulkar’s jersey Number 10 and MS Dhoni’s jersey number 7 have already been retired, unofficially. Virat Kohli’s number 18 and Rohit Sharma’s number 45 are both likely to be included in the retired jersey number list. In other words, No 18 and 45 won’t be available for newcomers or existing players.