The Indian wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant has finally returned to competitive cricket since he injured his left foot. Currently he is leading the India A in a home match against South Africa A at Bengaluru's BCCI Centre of Excellence. However, his jersey number has gained much more than his comeback. In the match he was seen wearing the jersey 18, which coincides with the jersey number of the modern-day legendary batter Virat Kohli. Rishabh Pant normally dons 17. However, him wearing 18 has sparked social media abuzz. Virat Kohli, who is currently playing the ODI format, had announced his Test retirement in July, in the middle of 2025 Indian premier League. Has Rishabh Pant changed his jersey number? pic.twitter.com/DOFfJg4DKz — Ankur (@cricwithpant2) October 30, 2025 Since then, fans have been demanding to retire his jersey number. Earlier, BCCI had retired MS Dhoni's jersey 7 and Sachin Tendulkar's jersey 10. Even though such things have not done for Kohli, players often landed into unusual hate for wearing jerseys of previous legends. Shardul Thakur got himself into a nasty hatred after he wore jersey 10 in an ODI series against Sri Lanka in 2017. Speaking about jersey 18, the fast bowler Mukesh Kumar was found wearing jersey 18 in an unofficial match against the England Lions prior to the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. Mukesh received hate across social media from the Kohli fans, as usual. However, in normal days, he wears jersey 49. There were claims that Mukesh showed "disrespect" to Kohli. Read also: Shreyas Iyer Shares Health Update, Eyes NZ Series Return Well, is there any mandatory rule regarding jersey numbers in unofficial matches? No. Notably, the jersey does not even have the name printed, unlike international jerseys. Many players are seen to pick random numbers during the unofficial matches. During the unofficial ODI series against Australia earlier in October, the India A captain Shreyas Iyer was wearing 6 on his back, while he normally wears 96. Similarly Rishabh who normally wears 17 has nothing to do with 18. This was earlier clarified by a BCCI official in defense of Mukesh Kumar. In an interview, he had clarified, "Mukesh wore No. 18 during the opening 'Test' match versus Lions. But when it comes to India A squad, there are no fixed numbers as jerseys don't have names. Anyone can pick any random number. The jersey numbers are only sacrosanct for international games."