Extremely honoured to be nominated for Khel Ratna, says Rohit Sharma

India white-ball vice-captain Rohit Sharma on Sunday expressed his gratitude after being nominated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.

The BCCI uploaded a video of Rohit saying: "I am extremely honoured and humbled." 

"I am grateful to BCCI and all my teammates, support staff and fans of the game, and my family for sticking by me. Thank you very much," he said.

 

"I am extremely honored and humbled"- @ImRo45 on being nominated for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award 2020  #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/GmHqpEvwkF

— BCCI (@BCCI) May 31, 2020

While Rohit's name has been sent for India's highest sporting honour, Ishant Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Deepti Sharma have been nominated for Arjuna Awards.

What is Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award?

The Khel Ratna award, officially known as Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in Sports and Games, is the highest sporting honour in India. The award is named after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Khel Ratna is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. The recipient(s) is/are selected by a committee constituted by the Ministry. The athlete(s) is/are honoured for their spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports over a period of four years at international level.

After sending the nominations, the BCCI in its release had said: "The Government of India's Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports had sought invitations for the respective awards with the period of consideration beginning 1st January 2016 to 31st December 2019.
 

"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.

What is Arjuna Awards?

The Arjuna Awards are given by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in India to recognise outstanding achievement in field of sports. The process of giving Arjuna Awards was started in 1961, which includes a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh and a bronze statue of Arjuna and a scroll.

The criteria for conferring Arjuna Award has been revised over the years. According to the revised guidelines, to be eligible for the award, a sportsperson should not only have had good performance consistently for the previous four years at the international level with excellence for the year for which the award is recommended, but should also have shown qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and a sense of discipline.

"Shikhar 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."

"The youngest Indian to play all three formats of the game, Ishant Sharma has been leading the Indian pace bowling attack and holds the record for most wickets by an Indian pacer outside Asia. A top-class all-rounder, Deepti Sharma holds the record for the highest individual WODI score by an Indian player and is also the only Indian spinner to take 6 WODI wickets," BCCI statement said. 

List of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award winner

Year	Name Of The Awardee	Discipline
2019	Bajrang Punia	Wrestling
	Deepa Malik	Paralympic

2018	Mirabai Chanu	Weightlifting
	Virat Kohli	Cricket
2017	Sardar Singh	Hockey
	Devendra	Para – Athletic
2016	P.V. Sindhu	Badminton
	Dipa Karmakar	Gymnastics
	Jitu Rai	Shooting
	Sakshi Malik	Wrestling
2015	Sania Mirza	Tennis
2013	Ronjan Sodhi	Shooting
2012	Vijay Kumar	Shooting
	Yogeshwar Dutt	Wrestling
2011	Gagan Narang	Shooting
2010	Saina Nehwal	Badminton
2009	Mary Kom	Boxing
	Vijender Singh
	Sushil Kumar	Wrestling
2007	MS Dhoni	Cricket
2006	Manavjit Singh Sandhu	Shooting
2005	Pankaj Advani	Billiards & Snooker
2004	Lt. Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore	Shooting
2003	Anju Bobby George	Athletics
2002	K M Beenamol	Athletics
	Anjali R.Bhagwat	Shooting
2001	Abhinav Bindra	Shooting
2000-2001	Pullela Gopichand	Badminton
1999-2000	Dhanraj Pillay	Hockey
1998-1999	Jyotirmoyee Sikdar	Athletics
1997-1998	Sachin Tendulkar	Cricket
1996-1997	Leander Paes	Tennis
1995-1996	N Kunjurani	Weightlifting
1994-1995	K Malleshwari	Weightlifting
1992-1994	Cdr. Homi D. Motivala	Yachting
	Cdr. P.K. Garg	Yachting
1991-1992	Vishwanath Anand	Chess
	Geet Sethi	Billiards