Indian Women’s Cricket sensation Harmanpreet Kaur has been recommended by the BCCI for this year’s prestigious Arjuna Award. Kaur became an overnight celebrity after her fabulous innings of 171 runs against Australia in the semi-final of the recently concluded ICC Women’s World Cup.
But, surprisingly, the BCCI didn’t recommend the name of India captain Mithali Raj for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the country's highest sports award, ahead of the deadline, despite leading her side to the World Cup final against the hosts England.
According to a report, the Indian cricket board failed to recommend her name within the deadline of April 30. However, there have been instances where associations have pushed for names well after the deadline following some great performances in subsequent periods and got them the award.
Last year, the sports ministry had allowed the late nomination of medal-winning Olympians PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik.
Mithali not only became the all time highest scorer in Women's ODI cricket while playing in the World Cup 2017, but also became the first Indian batter to amass 1000 runs in World Cup.
“The BCCI is going through a crisis situation. There is a problem in governance and it is difficult to see it taking initiative and pushing the case of players,” a top BCCI official told Hindustan Times.
Mithali told HT: “I can’t give an opinion on this. It is for the BCCI to take the call.”
