During India A’s first four-day unofficial Test match against the England Lions, Mukesh was spotted wearing the No. 18 jersey, pictures of which went instantly viral on the internet. Fans were left enraged, with the India fast bowler being bombarded with hate messages. They also lashed out at the BCCI for allowing it, saying it was an act of “disrespect” towards the former India captain, who retired from the traditional format earlier last month.

Speaking to the PTI, a senior BCCI official in the know of things explained that while a player can opt for any jersey number during an India A match, his/her kit number during an international game will remain the same as it was before. This implied that Mukesh, who has not been picked for the Test series against England, if selected for the contest, his jersey number would be 49, the one he wore during his senior team debut in the West Indies.

“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,” the official said.

Will BCCI retire Kohli’s No. 18 jersey?

While Kohli remains an active international player in the 50-over format, the PTI report hinted that it is understood that, just like Sachin (jersey No. 10) and Dhoni (jersey No. 7), no new player coming into the Test team would like to bear the burden of a legacy number.

India will see two debutants—B Sai Sudharsan and Arshdeep Singh—during the five-match series against England, which begins on June 20. However, the report said that the jersey numbers allotted to them are different.

In India, there are no formal ways to retire a jersey, but there are instances where famous numbers aren’t worn by players who come later into the team. Although Shardul Thakur did face flak when he donned Sachin’s No. 10 jersey during his ODI debut in Sri Lanka, he was forced to change his number amid the rage of the fans. However, when it came to Dhoni, no one else wore No. 7 after he retired from international cricket.