Mumbai: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) nominated Rohit Sharma for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award 2020 while Ishant Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Deepti Sharma were nominated for Arjuna Awards.
Rohit Sharma, Team India’s vice-captain in the white-ball format has been a prolific run-getter. Named the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year for 2019, the stylish opener became the first player in the history of the game to score five ODI centuries in one edition of the World Cup.
He is also the first batsman to score four T20I centuries and is the first player to have twin centuries in his maiden appearance as a Test opener.
Speaking on the nominations, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly said that Rohit has set new benchmarks as a batsman and is worthy of the highest sporting honour in the country.
“We went through a lot of data and considered various parameters before shortlisting the nominees. Rohit Sharma has set new benchmarks as a batsman and achieved scores people thought were not possible in the shorter formats of the game. We feel he is worthy of getting the prestigious Khel Ratna award for his commitment, conduct, consistency and his leadership skills,” Ganguly said.
Dhawan holds the record for the fastest Test century on debut and is the only batsman in the world to have won two consecutive golden bats (for most runs) in the ICC Champions Trophy. He is also the quickest Indian batsman to reach 2000 and 3000 runs in ODIs and second-fastest Indian to score 4000 and 5000 runs in ODIs.
“Shikhar has been consistently scoring at the top and his performances in the ICC events have been significant,” Ganguly said.
The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports had sought invitations for the respective awards with the period of consideration beginning January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2019. (UNI)