The Indian Test team in near future won't have any player wearing the jersey No.18 that belonged to legendary Virat Kohli for the last 14 years although Bengal seamer Mukesh Kumar was seen wearing the famous 'No 18' during the first unofficial 'Test' between India A and England Lions in Canterbury.
While Kohli has still not retired from ODIs where we would see world cricket's most distinguished No. 18 don the India Blues, it is understood that just like it was in the case of Sachin Tendulkar (jersey No. 10) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (jersey No. 7), it is unlikely that any new player coming into the Test team would like to bear the burden of a legacy number.
Mukesh isn't a part of the Test squad and it is understood that even if he is selected as a replacement, 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," a senior BCCI official in the know of things told PTI.
The Indian Test squad will have two new members in B Sai Sudharsan and Arshdeep Singh but it is understood that the jersey numbers allotted to them are different.
In Indian cricket, there is no formal way of retiring any particular jersey number but some of the famous numbers aren't worn by players who come later into the team.
There was one instance when 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 when it came to Dhoni, no one else wore No. 7 after he retired from international cricket.
The nature of Kohli's contribution to Indian cricket and the mass appeal he enjoys, it is difficult to imagine anyone else wearing that Jersey No. 18 in any format of the game.
