The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has nominated swashbuckling Team India batsman Rohit Sharma for the prestigious Khel Ratna Award. On the other hand, Ishant Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Deepti Sharma have been nominated for Arjuna Awards.
Rohit Sharma had a prolific 2019 knocking runs with ease. Named the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year for 2019, the cricketer from Mumbai became the first player in the history of the game to score five ODI centuries in one edition of the World Cup.
BCCI names Rohit Sharma for Khel Ratna
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. While the start of 2020 has not been good for Rohit Sharma, he will hope to return with a bang. He sustained an injury during the New Zealand T20Is, and since then has been out of action.
On the other hand, Shikhar Dhawan has been a vital cog in India’s limited-overs set-up. He has scored tons of runs and is the only batsman to win two consecutive golden bats (for most runs) in the ICC Champions Trophy. Although Dhawan finds himself a bit out of place in current India side, but the southpaw has the pedigree to fight his way back.
BCCI has finally decided to recognise Ishant Sharm’s hard work and determination. He is a force to reckon with in red-ball cricket and has played key roles behind India’s dominant run in recent times. Furthermore, all-rounder Deepti Sharma has also done exceedingly well for India and deservedly got a recommendation.
Speaking on the occasion of announcing the nominees, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly said that they have churned all the data before forwarding the names. He also hailed all the cricketers for their tremendous contribution to Indian cricket.
“We went through a lot of data and considered various parameters before shortlisting the nominees,” Ganguly said.
