The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to send in the names of R Ashwin and Mithali Raj for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award while KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah and Shikhar Dhawan’s name will be proposed for the Arjuna Award.
“We had a detailed discussion and it was decided to send in the names of Ashwin and women’s Test and ODI skipper Mithali’s name for the Khel Ratna. We are recommending Dhawan again for the Arjuna while we will suggest the names of Rahul and Bumrah,” a BCCI source said.
The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports had earlier decided to extend the last date of submission of application for the upcoming National Sports Awards 2021. Earlier, the last date for submitting applications was 21 June.
The nominations/applications from the eligible sportspersons/ coaches/ entities/ universities were invited for the award and they were to be e-mailed as per an official statement from the ministry.
“No women cricketer has been nominated for Arjuna. Mithali’s name has been recommended for Khel Ratna,” a BCCI official said on 30 June.
Mithali Raj continues to be one of the biggest names in Indian cricket. She completed 22 years in international cricket last week. The 38 year-old is the leading run getter in ODIs with more than 7000 runs.
Ashwin, who is already an Arjuna awardee like Mithali, has been a consistent performer for India in Test cricket. He has taken 413 wickets in 79 Tests besides 150 and 42 scalps in ODIs and T20s though he doesn’t play for India in the shorter formats.
Dhawan, who will be captaining India in the upcoming limited overs series in Sri Lanka, is a frontrunner for Arjuna. The 35-year-old southpaw has scored 5977 runs in 142 ODIs besides 2315 and 1673 Test and T20 runs respectively.
Last year, India limited-overs vice captain Rohit Sharma was among the five Indian sportspersons to bag the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.
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