The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to recommend the Legendary Mithali Raj and India’s premier spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the country’s highest sporting honor.
“No women cricketer has been nominated for Arjuna. Mithali’s name has been recommended for Khel Ratna,” a BCCI official told PTI on Wednesday.
Most wickets under a captain in Tests:
347 – Dale Steyn under Graeme Smith
281 – Ravichandran Ashwin under Virat Kohli*
280 – Makhaya Ntini under Graeme Smith#WTCFinal2021— Umang Pabari (@UPStatsman) June 22, 2021
Mithali Raj made her One Day International debut for India at the age of 16 against Ireland. She scored an unbeaten 114. She has achieved plenty of milestones in her international career spanning more than two decades. At 36, Raj, became the first woman to complete two decades in ODI cricket. She also surpassed former England captain Charlotte Edwards to become the highest run-scorer in ODIs and the first woman to 6000 runs in the format.
Ravichandran Ashwin, who won the Arjuna Award in 2014, has been a consistent performer for India in Test cricket. In 2019, Ashwin became the fastest to take 350 Test wickets. He has a total of 413 International Test wickets in 79 matches and over 150 ODI wickets.
BCCI recommends three cricketers for Arjuna Award
The BCCI has also recommended Opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan for Arjuna Award.
Shikhar Dhawan, who will be leading India in the limited overs series in Sri Lanka, is a frontrunner for Arjuna. The 35-year-old has scored 5977 runs in 142 ODIs besides 2315 and 1673 Test and T20 runs respectively.
KL Rahul and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah are the other two recommendations 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 National Sports Awards 2021.
Last year, Opening Batsman Rohit Sharma, along with Manika Batra, Vinesh Phogat, Rani Rampal and Mariyappan Phangavelu received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.
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