Dr Sandeep Goyal recounts the stories behind the numbers on players jerseys
Why do cricketers have numbers on their shirts at all? The numbers help identify a player to the officials, commentators and even the spectators. The numbers on the front of a playerâs shirt indicate the chronological position of their appearance for a particular country (that is when the player earned a Test cap), whereas, numbers on the back of the jersey are typically self-chosen.
Virat Kohli always sports the number 18 on his jersey. Bharat Ratna Sachin Tendulkar, during his playing days, wore the legendary number 10. MS Dhoni carried the lucky number 7 on his jersey during his international cricketing career; Chris Gayle has worn 333 for as long as one can remember; Rahul Dravidâs 19 and Shane Warneâs 23 are famously remembered too; and Muttiah Muralitharan is well known as the man with number 800. What is the significance of these numbers, if any?