On November 29, 2017, the BCCI had unofficially retired jersey no. 10 as a mark of respect to Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar’s achievements.
Back then in September, fans were furious to see seamer Shardul Thakur sporting the iconic number on his jersey. After that incident in Sri Lanka, the pacer was seen wearing the number 54 on his back in a few warm-up matches.
Now, almost two years later, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) retired spin legend Daniel Vettori’s jersey no. 11 in honour of the former Kiwi captain.
In fact, NZC will retire the jerseys of all the cricketers who have represented New Zealand in more than 200 ODIs.
“Players that represent New Zealand in 200 ODIs have their shirt number retired. Daniel Vettori who wore number 11 has played the most ODIs for the BLACKCAPS with 291,” NZC tweeted on Monday.
Players that represent New Zealand in 200 ODIs have their shirt number retired. Daniel Vettori who wore number 11 has played the most ODIs for the BLACKCAPS with 291. pic.twitter.com/5oeGPKdnEK
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) August 5, 2019
Vettori had scalped 305 wickets while playing for New Zealand in 291 ODIs. He was also impressive with the willow, scoring 2253 runs, including four fifties.
The former 40-year-old left-arm spin wizard had represented New Zealand in 113 Tests. He took 362 wickets and amassed 4,531 runs with the bat, including six centuries and 23 half-centuries.
Vettori was the Black Caps skipper from 2007 to 2011.
Meanwhile, on Monday, New Zealand also revealed the Test jersey numbers of their players before the two-match series against Sri Lanka, beginning on August 14 at Galle.
New Zealand will kickstart their campaign in the ICC World Test Championship with the two-match Test series against the Island nation.