/betbarter/media/agency_attachments/3YXcMKaocLoKtpo5Mw2o.png)
/betbarter/media/post_banners/X6HzSoL4XRka2GSLEHDI.jpg)
R Ashwin and Mithali Raj
India women's skipper Mithali Raj and Test spinner Ravichandran Ashwin are going to be nominated by BCCI for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna. It is India's highest sporting honor. The Indian cricket board is also going to nominate Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, and Jasprit Bumrah for the Arjuna award.
Mithali Raj is one of the most successful women cricketers of all time. She has recently completed 22 years in international cricket. The 38-year-old is also the all-time highest run-scorer in women's ODIs. She has so far scored 7170 runs. Mithali Raj has won the Arjuna in 2003 and was also conferred the Padma Shri in 2015.
Ravichandran Ashwin has been an integral part of the Indian Test team. He has picked up 417 wickets in the most extended format of the game. The Tamil Nadu spinner is currently India's fourth-highest wicket-taker of all time in Tests. He is also the fourth Indian cricketer to take more than 400 wickets in the most extended format. R Ashwin won the Arjuna Award back in the year 2014.
Shikhar Dhawan to be nominated for Arjuna Award
Shikhar Dhawan, who will be leading India in the forthcoming limited-overs series in Sri Lanka, is a frontrunner for the Arjuna award. The left-handed batsman has scored 5977 runs in 142 ODIs. He has also scored 2315 Test and 1673 T20 runs. Last year, India's limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma was among the five Indian sportspersons to grab the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.
Manika Batra, Rohit Sharma, Vinesh Phogat, Rani Rampal, and Mariyappan Phangavelu were awarded the Khel Ratna Award last year. It was the first time that five athletes received the honor in the same year.
The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports had decided to extend the last date of submission of application for the forthcoming National Sports Awards 2021. Earlier, the last date for submitting the applications was June 21. The nominations/applications from the eligible sportspersons/ coaches/ entities/ universities were invited for the award, and they were to be e-mailed as per an official statement from the ministry.