The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has come to a decision that “unofficially” retire the No.10 jersey from international matches. The No.10, worn by Sachin Tendulkar throughout his career in ODIs and for a single international T20, will, henceforth, be associated only with the man himself.

Tendulkar retired from international cricket in November 2013 bringing a 24-year-long career to an end. He had last worn No. 10 in March 2012 when he played his last ODI against Pakistan.

Since then, No.10 was unused for nearly five years before Mumbai pacer Shardul Thakur decided to wear it for his ODI debut at Colombo last August. This hinted trolling of Thakur and BCCI on social media with a flood of comments mocking the player for “trying to be a Sachin.”

Talking about the jersey, a BCCI official said, “It unnecessarily creates controversy and players get criticised. 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 reports of the Indian Express also suggest that BCCI sounded out top players from the Indian team and they agreed that it made sense for No. 10 to be retired.

Thakur refrained from using No. 10 when he returned to the Indian team in October for the series against New Zealand. In warm-up games, he was seen wearing No. 54.