No Indian cricketer will be able to wear Sachin Tendulkar's No. 10 Jersey now

The number 10 jersey was worn by Sachin Tendulkar during his 24-year long career. Since his retirement, it was only worn once which resulted in a controversy.

Sachin Tendulkar Source: Twitter

Jersey number ten will always belong to Sachin Tendulkar in the Indian cricket after the Board of Cricket for Control in India (BCCI) has decided to “unofficially” retire the No. 10 jersey worn by legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar throughout his career in One-day international matches and a sole T20.

Sachin announced his retirement from cricket in 2013 after nearly a quarter-of-a-century long illustrious batting career to an end. Since his retirement, the jersey had been unused until August last year when fast bowler Shardul Thakur wore it on his ODI debut. But the paceman was brutally trolled on social media for wearing the jersey with even Indian opening batsman Rohit Sharma poking fun at him via a tweet.

Retired cricket great Sachin Tendulkar smiles after launching his autobiography,"Playing It My Way," in Mumbai.(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) Source: AAP

“It unnecessarily creates controversy and players get criticised,” a BCCI official was quoted as saying by

The Indian Express

. “So it’s better to retire the number unofficially. Players, though, can wear it when they play for India A or for say a non-international list A match but not during an international.”

The Indian Premier League team of Mumbai Indians retired No. 10 jersey in 2013 after Tendulkar retired from all forms of cricket.

Though Thakur tried to explain the reason for choosing No 10 jersey, saying the digits of his date of birth (16.10.1991) add up to 28 and 2+8 equals 10. But not many took a sympathetic view of it except spinner Harbhajan Singh.

"What's the poor guy's fault if he wore that jersey? If he's grown up watching Tendulkar, it may have been his dream to wear the No. 10 jersey and play for India, for which he's worked hard. It could be his way of paying tribute to the great man, or emulate him, or it could be his lucky number," Harbhajan told The Times of India.

Despite having retired four years ago from the game, Tendulkar enjoys an unparalleled respect of millions of Indian cricket fans. He is still the only cricketer in the world to score one hundred international centuries with the most runs in both one day and test cricket.