Virat Kohli Recommended for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna; Rahul Dravid For Dronachrya Award; Sunil Gavaskar for Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award

Three biggies of Indian cricket, Sunil Gavaskar, Virat Kohli and Rahul Dravid are all set to add one more feather to their hats. Owing to his current, the BCCI has recommended Virat Kohli’s name for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. Under his captaincy, Team has achieved the top spot of the ICC Cricket Rankings and has shattered many personal records.

Rahul Dravid’s name has been recommended as he guided the U-19 cricket team very efficiently to the finals of the World Cup. Dravid also worked with India A team. The BCCI recommended Sunil Gavaskar’s name for Dhyan Chand Life Achievement Award. Confirming the news, CoA chief Vinod Rai. “Yes, we have sent a number of nominations in various categories to the government. Rahul is the BCCI nominee for the Dronacharya award.”

The BCCI did not send any entries for Dronacharya Award as multiple coaches came forward to get credits for a player’s success. “It happened when a former India opener had signed two nominations where coaches claimed that the player worked under them. From then, we had stopped sending nominations,” said a BCCI official.

Virat Kohli’s coach Rajkumar Sharma, who also received the Dronacharya Award was not recommended by the BCCI. “For someone of Rahul’s stature, we have decided to depart from convention,” added the official.

Virat Kohli was also recommended by the BCCI for Khel Ratna in 2016, but back then three Olympians PV Sindhu, Sakshi Malik and Deepa Karmakar were given away the honours. Currently, Virat Kohli leads the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 26, 2018 11:27 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).