BCCI set to retire MS Dhoni's iconic No. 7 jersey number - Reports

Team India players will not be able to sport No. 7 on the back of their jerseys, with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) deciding to retire the number in honor of MS Dhoni.

The former India skipper guided India to all three white-ball ICC silverware while wearing the No. 7, and the association between his name and the number has been iconic, to say the least.

It will become the second jersey number to be retired after Sachin Tendulkar's iconic No. 10 jersey. The legendary batter's jersey number ceased to be available from 2017 onwards.

According to a report by the Indian Express, the BCCI has informed the national team players as well as the debutants that numbers 7 and 10 are not available by any means.

“The young players and current Indian team players have been told not to pick M S Dhoni’s Number 7 jersey. The BCCI has decided to retire Dhoni’s T-shirt for his contribution to the game. A new player can’t get No. 7, and No. 10 was already off the list of available numbers,” said a senior board official.

Dhoni has revealed in the past that he chose the No. 7 for his jersey just because it was his birthdate (July 7), debunking the theories suggesting that it was his lucky number.

“At present, 60-odd numbers are designated to the regulars in the Indian team and those in contention. So even if a player is out of the team for about a year or so, we don’t give away his number to a new player. That means a recent debutant has just 30-odd numbers to choose from,” said a BCCI official.

The youngsters are scrambling for iconic numbers with several of them being taken by senior members.

Most of the emerging players are sporting unorthodox numbers on their backs for the time being. Yashasvi Jaiswal, who made his international debut this year, wanted the No. 19 on his jersey. However, the number is assigned to Dinesh Karthik for the time being.

Similarly, Shubman Gill also reportedly wanted to sport No. 7 on his jersey but has to settle with No. 77 instead.

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Shardul Thakur was the last Indian player to sport the No. 10 until BCCI's verdict

Since Tendulkar's retirement in 2013, the jersey has been available for a brief while, when it was taken by fellow Mumbai cricketer Shardul Thakur. However, the reception to the all-rounder claiming the iconic number was far from ideal. Following the BCCI's decision to retire the number once and for all, Thakur switched to No. 54.

Retiring jersey numbers is a common trend in the sporting world. In other sports like football and basketball, Diego Maradona and Michael Jordan have had their jersey numbers retired to protect their legacies. In a rare instance, Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant had two jersey numbers retired for his contribution in each of them.

When it comes to cricket, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) decided to retire the jersey numbers 17 and 333, following AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle's introduction into the franchise Hall of Fame.