Shardul Thakur had a great debut as India were able to win and he picked up his first international wickets for the country. Shardul Thakur has been putting in great performances on the fringes and finally got his chance to shine for the country. His bowling abilities have not gone unnoticed and Thakur too, will be enjoying the adulation he is receiving.
However, there was one minor blip that hampered Thakur for no fault of his own. Despite making his debut for the team, he, along with the BCCI were lambasted for wearing the Number 10 jersey. A number of die-hard Sachin Tendulkar fans felt that awarding him the number was unwarranted and undeserved and only Sachin deserved the honour.
Twitter backlash:
As soon as Shardul Thakur was presented his first jersey and cap, a lot of people on social media trolled the player and BCCI for wearing the number 10. Many feel that the number should have been retired with Sachin and Thakur has to earn a place in Indian cricket history wearing another number. Twitter went to the cleaners the moment his jersey was presented.
In all honesty, the jersey number does not really matter and it is the player who does. However, Indians love to emotionally attach themselves to numbers or artefacts that would be meaningless elsewhere so BCCI should have maybe thought twice before providing him the jersey with the number.
Thakur must take it with a pinch of salt and ignore the whole saga and only associate his debut with the happy memories as it is a high point in his young career.
Proud moment for young @imShard as he receives his ODI cap from @RaviShastriOfc #SLvIND pic.twitter.com/KJdJ88IUu7
— BCCI (@BCCI) August 31, 2017
Shardul Thakur! The 2nd Indian Cricketer to sport a Jersey No.10 after Sachin Tendulkar?! #SLvIND
— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) August 31, 2017
Welcome SHARDUL THAKUR to intl cricket. But a debutant wears jersey no 10 that was to retire with Sachin.Decision of BCCI reversed ??@BCCI
— GOVIND SHARDA (@IMGOVINDSHARDA) August 31, 2017
@BCCI Jersey no 10 belongs to one and only @sachin_rt
We cant accept anyone wearing that Jersey no.. pic.twitter.com/ybb4oqzpBb— Akshaya (@akshusachinist) August 31, 2017
@BCCI please retire Jersey no. 10 from ODI cricket,we don’t want anyone else other than @sachin_rt to wear the same number.
— Dhairyasheel Patil (@AProudSachinist) August 31, 2017
@imShard you still have a long way to go to get that no.10.@BCCI it’s too early to give away that jersey no.10.#RetireJerseyno10
— Phanindra (@phanindrareddi) August 31, 2017
@imShard Jersey no. 10 always belonged to Sachin Tendulkar. Take it off. Find another jersey. Wtf BCCI?!
— Vinitha Nair (@94vinitha) August 31, 2017