Dravid nominated for Khel Ratna, Yuvraj for Arjuna

Mangalore Today / CNN-IBN

Mumbai, July 7: The BCCI has decided to recommend recently retired batsman Rahul Dravid for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award and Yuvraj Singh for the Arjuna Award. "We will be forwarding the names of Rahul Dravid for Khel Ratna Award and Yuvraj Singh for the Arjuna Award next week [to the Sports Ministry]," BCCI’s CAO Prof Ratnakar Shetty told PTI on Saturday.

The 39-year-old Dravid retired from all forms of international cricket following the Test series in Australia early this year. The classical batsman accumulated over 23,000 runs in Tests and ODIs combined since making his debut at The Lord’s in 1996.

 

If Dravid gets the Khel Ratna – country’s highest award to be given in sports – he will be the third cricketer, after his former team-mates Sachin Tendulkar (1997-98) and MS Dhoni (2007-08), to win the coveted award.

Yuvraj, who has started practising at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore after recovering from a rare form of germ cell cancer between his lungs, was India’s hero in the 2011 World Cup triumph. He was awarded Player of the Tournament for his spectacular show.

The Government had recently extended the deadline for the nominations till July 20.