Will BCCI retire Virat Kohli’s iconic No. 18 Test jersey after controversy?

Recently, controversy arose after pacer Mukesh Kumar was found wearing superstar Virat Kohli's No. 18 jersey during the India A match against the England Lions at the St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury.

The video immediately went viral over various social media platforms. The development caused outrage, with fans sending hate messages to the Indian bowler. 

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) also faced criticism for allowing this, which several fans feel as disrespectful to the former India captain, who retired from the traditional format recently.

BCCI responded to the recent social media controversy by addressing the possibility of retiring Kohli's jersey, similar to what was done for Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni.

"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," said a BCCI official during a recent interview.

As per sources, there is no formal way of retiring any particular jersey number in Indian cricket. However, some of the famous numbers aren’t worn by players who come later into the team.

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Once, pacer Shardul Thakur had worn jersey No. 10 in an ODI match in Sri Lanka and the fans didn’t take too kindly to it, forcing Shardul to change his jersey number.

However, no one else wore MS Dhoni's jersey No. 7 after he retired from international cricket.