BCCI Nominates Ravichandran Ashwin, Mithali Raj For Khel Ratna Award; Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah Recommended For Arjuna Award

Senior India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin, and the women’s Test and ODI skipper Mithali Raj have been recommended for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, India’s highest sporting honour, by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Three more senior men’s cricketers, KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah and Shikhar Dhawan’s, are suggested by the board for the Arjuna Award.

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 June 21.

“We had a detailed discussion and it was decided to send in the names of R Ashwin and women’s Test and ODI skipper Mithali Raj name for the Khel Ratna. We are recommending Dhawan again for the Arjuna while we will also suggest the names of Rahul and Bumrah,” a source in the know of developments confirmed the names to ANI.

Opener Rohit Sharma, along with other sports personalities Manika Batra, Vinesh Phogat, Rani Rampal and Mariyappan Phangavelu were awarded the Khel Ratna Award last year. It was the first time in the history of the award that this was awarded to five sportspeople in the same year.

Speaking about the players, Mithali Raj is the leading run-scorer in women’s ODI cricket with runs at 51.21, with the help of 7 hundreds and 56 fifties, in a career spanning over two decades.

Ravichandran Ashwin is amongst the greatest off-spinners of all-time. He is currently India’s fourth highest Test wicket-taker, and has also won the 2011 World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trohpy with the ODI side.

Shikhar Dhawan, who made his international debut a decade ago, has been promoted to the leadership role in absence of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma on the upcoming limited-overs tour to Sri Lanka.

KL Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah are two of the most talented players to play for the country. While Rahul is cementing his place in the white-ball side, Bumrah has emerged as arguably the best all-format fast bowler in the world.

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