BCCI has recommended one female and three male cricketers – Poonam Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja – for the Arjuna Award.

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the administrative body for cricket in the country, has recommended the names of Poonam Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja for Arjuna Award. The honour is bestowed by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India recognising outstanding achievement by the athletes.

The announcement was made on Saturday (April 27) when the Committee of Administrators (CoA) met in New Delhi.

A senior BCCI official told IANS that the nomination for Arjuna Awards will be decided on the basis of seniority. “We will decide on the nominees on the basis of their seniority. There will be both men and women cricketers who will be in the list that Karim presents,” the official said.

When asked if someone like KL Rahul – has played for the country in 34 Tests, 14 ODIs and 27 T20Is – could be considered after coming under fire for his inappropriate comments on Koffee with Karan, the official said: “It is a closed matter technically and there is no reason why he cannot be given the award for his contribution to the game after the ombudsman gave him a clean chit. But yes, timing is something that can definitely be debated.”

As per guidelines, to be eligible for the Award, a sportsperson should not only have had good performance consistently for the previous four years at the international level with excellence for the year for which the Award is recommended, but should also have shown qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and a sense of discipline.

A total of 53 cricketers have been awarded the Arjuna Award with Saleem Durani, in 1961, the first recipient. In 2018, Smriti Mandhana became the latest to be awarded the Arjuna Award.

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