Twitterati unimpressed with Shardul Thakur wearing jersey number 10

Young promising Mumbai pacer Shardul Thakur made his ODI debut for India during the 4th ODI against Sri Lanka in the ongoing five-match series. He had a decent start to his international career as he managed to take a wicket in the very second over that he bowled on the day. Shardul got rid of Sri Lankan opener Niroshan Dickwella in the third over of the match.

He followed it up with some economical bowling thereafter. He finished with figures of 1/26 in the 7 overs that he bowled on the day. Well, by the look of things, these numbers look very impressive for any debutant. But little did Shardul Thakur know that he would be targeted on the social media for a bizarre reason. Shardul donned the jersey number 10 in his debut game.

This did not go down well with the fans on social media platforms like Twitter. It is a very well known fact that the jersey number 10 is not merely a number. It is an emotion for many cricket fans. Over the years, legendary Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar wore the jersey number 10, and hence the jersey number has attained an iconic stature in Indian cricket.

Ever since Sachin retired from the game of cricket, the jersey number went unused in the Indian dressing room. And today, when India took on Sri Lanka, and Shardul Thakur made his ODI debut, the number was donned by an Indian player again. The fans lashed out at the BCCI for letting the authorities give the jersey number to Shardul.

Some noted that the board and team management should have taken care that no other cricketer takes this particular jersey number. At the same time, there were a few who joked about the coincidence of the similar initials that the two players share – ST for Sachin Tendulkar, and ST for Shardul Thakur. When asked about the reason why he chose to wear jersey number 10, Shardul remarked that the total of his birthdate comes up to be 10 (October 16, 1991).

Here is how the Twitterati reacted to Shardul Thakur’s jersey number: