Hi Shardul,
Image source: Wisden India
Congratulations on making your debut for the Indian team. It is an honour to represent the country in the international arena and here’s hoping you continue to do so for a long time. You bowled well and managed to have a good debut from a professional perspective. But once again, the Indian Twitterati reared its ugly head.
The number 10, in any other sport, in any other country is a coveted number that is given to players who are one of the most important in the team. In our case, Number 10 belongs to the legend Sachin Tendulkar, who was one of the greatest ever to have played the game for us and this was the only mistake you made on your debut.
All over a jersey number:
This silly jersey number controversy would have made you feel bad because it overshadowed the performance that you put in.
What could you do? The only justification given was that it was your birth date but India fans being the way they are tend to attach too many emotions with entities that should not really be focussed on.
The only thing you can do now is either change the number or continue playing with the same number whenever the opportunity arises. Don’t worry about the noise that surrounds this little issue. Continue bowling the way you did and soon this issue will be a mere afterthought instead of a spotlight.
Good luck with the future and making yourself a mainstay of the team.
Best regards,
An Indian fan.
