Why retiring MS Dhoni's No.7 jersey from Indian cricket is a bad idea?

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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has reportedly retired MS Dhoni's number seven jersey which the former captain formerly donned during his illustrious career.

As per reports, the BCCI has told players in the Indian cricket team to pick not pick jersey number seven. Earlier, Sachin Tendulkar's Jersey number was 10 was retired by the BCCI to honour his contributions to the Indian cricket.

Shardul Thakur has once seen wearing the number 10 jersey during his ODI debut against Sri Lanka in 2017. He was widely criticised for choosing the number to be on the back of his jersey.

Traditionally, the number seven and number ten jersey have been donned by the biggest icons of the sporting world. Currently, Cristiano Ronaldo wears the No. 7 jersey, while his rival Lionel Messi has number 10 on his back. The jersey numbers have been related to the best players in the team. India Women captain Harmanpreet Kaur also has number seven on her back.

Why retiring MS Dhoni's No.7 jersey from Indian cricket is a bad idea?

However, retiring MS Dhoni's jersey number seven could be a bad idea for a simple reason. In Football - the most popular game on the planet - teams and clubs don't retire any jersey number unless and until a player dies while playing with it.

Sports have been often referred as the biggest equaliser in the world, and the word nepotism almost does not exist. Even Dhoni came from a very humble background and rose up to become one of the greatest cricketers produced by India.

Javagal Srinath, who was the leading wicket-taker for India in the World Cups (44) before Mohammed Shami broke his record in the 2023 World Cup, wore the number seven jersey. He finished his career as one of the greatest bowlers for India, and going by the norm, Dhoni should also not have been given the permission to don the jersey number seven.

Icons of the game like MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar inspire generations to pick bat and ball at early age. The youngsters don't only aspire to play like them and win matches for India one day, but also wear those jerseys. It's just unfair to take that dream away from any athlete.