New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has taken a step to pay tribute to the former captain, MS Dhoni, by deciding to retire the No. 7 jersey associated with him. This jersey, which became synonymous with Dhoni's career, particularly during his captaincy tenure and achievements in ICC events, will no longer be available for current and future Indian players.

Just as Sachin Tendulkar's No. 10 jersey was previously retired by the Indian board, the decision to retire Dhoni's No. 7 jersey underscores the profound impact he had on Indian cricket. Sources reveal that the BCCI has communicated to current players that the No. 7 jersey is off-limits, mirroring the protocol established for Tendulkar's iconic No. 10.

The Indian Express has corroborated this information, quoting a senior BCCI official who stated, "The young players and current Indian team players have been told not to pick M S Dhoni's Number 7 jersey. The BCCI has decided to retire Dhoni's T-shirt for his contribution to the game. A new player can't get No. 7, and No. 10 was already off the list of available numbers."

It is noteworthy that during his early days, fast bowler Shardul Thakur briefly wore the No. 10 shirt, but the BCCI retired the number after that period.

The BCCI official further explained that a total of 60 numbers are presently designated for regular and aspiring players in the Indian team. Even if a player is temporarily out of the team, the board refrains from reassigning their number to a new player, leaving recent debutants with a limited pool of around 30 numbers to choose from.

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Prayagraj, Jul 25 (PTI): The Allahabad High Court has observed that each incident of mob lynching or mob violence is a separate incident and cannot be monitored in a public interest litigation (PIL).

A bench of Justices Siddharth and Avnish Saxena was hearing a PIL filed by Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind seeking compliance of apex court's guidelines for checking incidents of mob lynching.

Disposing of the PIL, the bench said that the judgement of the apex court in the Tehseen S. Poonawalla Vs Union of India (2018) is binding upon the state government as well as the central government.

"Therefore, it is always open for the aggrieved party to approach the government first before rushing to this court seeking compliance of the judgement of apex court," it added.

In the PIL, the petitioner had sought extensive directions concerning the implementation of the apex court's binding guidelines in the case of Tehseen Poonawalla.

In the PIL, specific incidents of mob lynching and mob violence in Uttar Pradesh, including one in May in Aligarh, were referred.

The petitioner had sought setting up of a special investigation team (SIT) headed by an inspector general-rank officer to investigate the mob violence incident in Aligarh, the notification and circular related to the appointment of nodal officers in each district dealing with mob lynching cases, along with a status report on such cases.

Counsel for the state government opposed the maintainability of the PIL.

In its judgment passed on July 15, the court said that although the reliefs prayed in the PIL were consistent with the apex court's guidelines in Tehseen Poonawalla case, they could not be granted through a PIL seeking general oversight over individual incidents.

The court, however, noted that the affected parties have the liberty to first approach the appropriate government authority for the implementation of the apex court's directions.