WPL 2024: Harmanpreet and top 5 cricketers with jersey number 7 in cricket | News – Business standard
Harmanpreet Kaur on jersey number 7. Photo: Sportzpics
Mumbai Indians’ Harmanpreet Kaur elaborated on the details of her switch to squad number seven from her usual 84. Harman, who has missed her side’s last two matches due to injury, started by changing her squad number from 84.
“I think No.7 has been lucky for the IPL and I hope that luck continues in the WPL as well. It was my song when I played at school; I used to get that all the time. My Indian team jersey number was different, but I thought I would like it better if I could continue with the number I used at school. So one day I just took the numbers back,” she said.
She also recently changed her Indian jersey number, from 84 to 7, during the one-off Tests against England in 2023.
But apart from Harman, other players have worn the jersey number seven and popularized it in cricket.
MS Dhoni
There is no greater ambassador of jersey number seven than former India captain and current Chennai Super Kings leader in the Indian Premier League – MS Dhoni. Dhoni made it so iconic that BCCI retired the jersey, meaning no male cricketer would be able to wear jersey number seven for India anymore. As captain, Dhoni won every trophy there was to win during his tenure, including the ODI and T20 World Cups, Champions Trophy and the Test Mace.
Stefan Fleming
After Dhoni comes Dhoni’s coach, New Zealand’s top skipper Stephen Fleming. The left-handed Kiwi batsman was one of the New Zealand team’s most successful captains. He has captained the side in a record 303 matches in Tests and ODIs and is only behind Ricky Ponting and MS Dhoni. He also scored 15,289 runs in international cricket across all formats.
Shaun Pollock
Shaun Pollock, one of the best exponents of the new ball, is also without a doubt one of the best number seven players. Pollock, who came from a great cricketing family, did the name no harm as he was brilliant in all formats of the game. With 3,728 runs and 411 wickets, he was probably the best bowling all-rounder in the longest format.
In ODIs he had 393 wickets to his name and again more than 3,000 runs, a rare double that only five players have managed to achieve so far. What is rarer is the feat of Pollock achieving over 3,000 runs and 300 wickets in both Tests and ODIs; he is the only one to achieve this feat.
Ian Bell
Another number seven who has done extremely well in international cricket is England’s Ian Bell. Bell was brilliant in Test cricket, reaching 22 centuries and 46 fifties and amassing a total of 7,727 runs. Even after hitting three fifties in his last eleven innings in Tests, Bell was unable to play after 2015, when he was just 33 and a half years old.
The stylish batsman continued to play first-class and List A cricket, amassing a total of 34,360 runs in professional cricket between 1999 and 2020.
Javagal Srinath
Another famous cricketer to wear the number seven jersey is India’s Javagal Srinath. The Karnataka pacer is one of the best to bowl with the new ball. Srinath played 67 Tests and 229 ODIs for India and took a total of 551 international wickets in his 12-year career.
First print: March 3, 2024 | 11:48 PM IST