Mumbai: The prolific Rohit Sharma has been nominated for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award 2020.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has also sent the names of Ishant Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Deepti Sharma for Arjuna Awards.
Rohit, who is Virat Kohli’s deputy in the shorter formats (ODIs, T20Is), has been one of Team India’s most consistent batsmen for the past few seasons. He was adjudged ICC’s ODI Cricketer of the Year 2019 after becoming the first cricketer to smash five centuries in a single edition of the World Cup.
The stylish opener also holds the record for the most number of centuries (4) in Twenty20 Internationals as well as the highest ODI score (264).
Dhawan, the fastest century scorer on Test debut, is the only batsman to have won back-to-back Golden Bat awards (for most runs) in the ICC Champions Trophy.
Pacer Ishant, youngest Indian to play all three formats of the game, has bagged the most wickets by an Indian pacer outside Asia.
Deepti, a leading allrounder of the Indian women’s team, has to her credit the highest individual score by an Indian in ODIs. She is also the only Indian spinner to bag a 6-wicket haul in an ODI.
“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,” said BCCI president Sourav Ganguly.
