BCCI nominates MS Dhoni's name for Padma Bhushan, Twitterati celebrates

Indian cricketer MS Dhoni has been nominated for the prestigious Padma Bhushan for his contribution to the game of cricket over the years. Dhoni is already a recipient of the prestigious Arjuna, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and the Padma Shri award. He has been nominated for the country’s third highest civilian award by the BCCI. If the former Indian skipper is conferred with Padma Bhushan, he will become the 11th Indian cricketer to receive the prestigious award.

A senior BCCI official confirmed that the Board has only sent one name for the Padma awards this year and it was a unanimous decision to nominate India’s most successful captain. “Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been nominated by the BCCI for the Padma Bhushan award. It was a unanimous decision by the members. He has been one of the greatest names in contemporary cricket and the most appropriate choice of the Indian cricket board,” BCCI acting president CK Khanna told PTI on Wednesday.

“He is one of our greatest ODI cricketer with nearly 10,000 runs in ODIs. Not many players have played 90 Test matches. There is no one better than him, who could have been nominated,” Khanna added.

Dhoni’s outstanding record

MS Dhoni is the only Indian captain to win two World Cups- T20I World Cup in 2007 and the 50-over World Cup in 2011. The 36-year old has represented India in 302 ODIs, scoring 9737 runs. If Dhoni gets to 10,000 ODI runs, then he will become the first Indian wicket-keeper to achieve the feat. In 90 Test matches, the right handed batsman has piled up 4876 runs. He has 16 international centuries and 100 fifties. Behind the stumps, the sharp glove-man has 584 dismissals to his name across all formats apart from 163 lightening stumpings.  The Indian cricketers to have received the honor so far are- Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid, Chandu Borde, Prof DB Deodhar, Col CK Nayudu, and Lala Amarnath.

Let’s check out how Twitterati reacted to the news:

Padma Bhushan To Be Awarded With MS Dhoni.

Yes, You Read It Right. ????#PadmaBhushan #Dhoni pic.twitter.com/7wxTtNsCJN

— Sir Ravindra Jadeja (@SirJadeja) September 20, 2017

MS Dhoni To Get The Third Highest Civilian Honour Of India, Padma Bhushan. Will Become The 11th Indian Cricketer To Receive It. #Dhoni ???? pic.twitter.com/IjCAvmyU3S

— Sir Ravindra Jadeja (@SirJadeja) September 20, 2017

MSD nominated for Padma Bhushan. Truly deserving ! Congratulations #Dhoni . You are a Worthy recipient of this honour. #DhoniPadmanBhushan

— Mikkhail Vaswani (@MikkhailVaswani) September 20, 2017

MS Dhoni Nominated For Padma Bhushan, 3rd Highest Civilian Award Of India.??

2 Minutes Of Silence For #Dhoni Haters. ??#PadmaBhushan pic.twitter.com/XInidJYnK1

— Sir Ravindra Jadeja (@SirJadeja) September 20, 2017

1 Govt. Rejected Padma Award for Dhoni on Mar 27th
2 Dhoni Hits a Helicopter Shot
3 Nominated For Padma Bhushan

He's a best finisher indeed pic.twitter.com/KedcelsBlV

— SocialSaint (@isocialsaint) September 20, 2017

Great Captain ✅
Great Finisher ✅
Great Keeper ✅
Great Human being ✅

? Padma Bhushan MS Dhoni

Congratulations MSD… pic.twitter.com/KlmQJaDXmp

— Mahi Tamil (@Mahitamil07) September 20, 2017