Rohit Sharma likely to be honoured with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award

Rohit Sharma has been in top-notch form for a long time now. The opener has been performing immensely well and has taken his game to another level in limited-overs cricket. His ICC ranking in ODI format has also improved because of his batting prowess and is just behind the captain Virat Kohli who is at the top. This extraordinary performance is now getting rewarded as Rohit Sharma is likely to receive the ‘Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award’.

He will become the 4th Indian cricketer to receive the highest sporting honour of the country. Before him, Sachin Tendulkar (1998), MS Dhoni (2008) and Virat Kohli (2018) have also won the award. Interestingly, the 33-year-old batsman will become the oldest cricketer to receive the ‘Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award’.

The National Sports Award committee has recommended four names for the auspicious award this year according to the reports in DNA. Rohit Sharma along with wrestler Vinesh Phogat, Table Tennis player Manika Batra, Paralympic gold medalist- Mariappan Thangavelu are the four sports personalities which are recommended. All four of them might win the award this year.

Notably, this is the second time since 2016 that four sports players have been nominated for the highest sporting award of the country. In 2016 as well, the shuttler P V Sindhu, gymnast Dipa Karmakar, shooter Jitu Rai, and wrestler Sakshi Malik were awarded with the top honour.

Rohit Sharma was nominated by BCCI in May 2020

The committee which includes former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag and former hockey captain Sardar Singh met at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) headquarters in New Delhi. While Rohit Sharma was nominated by BCCI in May this year for his remarkable performances with the bat, Thangavelu got the recognition for his gold medal in the 2016 Rio Paralympics in the T42 high jump category.

Phogat won gold medals in the 2018 Commonwealth and Asian Games. She had even won bronze in the 2019 Asian Wrestling Championships. Manika Batra also impressed with her gold medals in Commonwealth Games 2018. The fans and a few cricket experts have demanded Rohit Sharma to be made India’s limited-overs captain.

His excellent show with bat and his successful leadership record in IPL has just given ‘fuel to the fire’. The Mumbaikar will next be seen in the IPL where he will be wearing Mumbai’s blue jersey while leading them from the front.