The Board of Control for Cricket in India has already retired jersey numbers 10 and 7 to honour Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni. Former India player Suresh Raina has urged the BCCI to retire jersey numbers 18 and 45 for Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s contribution to the Indian cricket.

India recently defeated South Africa by 7 runs in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 final. Virat scored 76 runs in the mega match, while Rohit finished as the second highest run-scorer in the tournament. They announced retirement from T20Is to allow the young players to take the Men in Blue in the shortest format.

“BCCI should retire jesery numbers 18 and 45 to honour Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. They have done enough for the team. Kohli and Sharma are the legends of the game. The young players should pay tribute to their jersey numbers before playing any match,” Suresh Raina said.

However, Robin Uthappa is not in favour of the popular practice. “If you start retiring jerseys, there would be no number left for the young players. They have already retired 10 and 7. If a young player wants 10 or 7, he can’t get it. It is not the right approach. The BCCI can hold back the iconic numbers and when a player comes who is worthy of donning one of the renowned numbers, he should be given that jersey number,” Robin Uthappa said.