The Indian Test team might now want to prevent the jersey No. 18, which has become synonymous with Virat Kohli for over 14 years. The Bengal pace bowler Mukesh Kumar was even seen with the famed ‘No 18’ in the unofficial Test between India A and England Lions held in Canterbury. Kohli has not retired from ODIs and will likely continue wearing the India Blues, but it is possible that, in the same way that Sachin Tendulkar‘s No. 10 and MS Dhoni‘s No. 7 are never worn by new entrants into the Test team, this legacy number won’t be picked by new players either.
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Mukesh is not in the Test squad, and even if he were to replace a player in the squad, he would have worn number 49, which he had worn on his debut for the senior team in the West Indies. A BCCI official said: “Mukesh wore No. 18 for the first match against the Lions, but in India A, players can choose any number since there are no names on the jerseys. The permanent numbers are only for international matches.”
The upcoming Indian Test squad will have B Sai Sudharsan and Arshdeep Singh coming in, but they will bear different numbers on their shirts. There is no official rule about retiring numbers, but some celebrated numbers are no longer worn by fresh players.
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There was this time when Shardul Thakur wore No. 10 in an ODI in Sri Lanka and the fans did not take it lightly and made him change it. But No. 7 has remained untouched since Dhoni’s retirement. After all, given Kohli’s monumental impact on Indian cricket and widespread appeal, it is difficult to imagine anyone else wearing the No. 18 jersey in any format.
