Kohli, Chanu nominated for Khel Ratna
India cricket captain Virat Kohli and world champion weightlifter Mirabai Chanu were jointly recommended for the country’s highest sporting honour — the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award yesterday.
Kohli will become the third Indian cricketer after legendary Sachin Tendulkar (1997) and the talismanic former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (2007) once the sports ministry officially accepts the committee’s recommendation.
“Yes, Virat Kohli and Mirabai Chanu’s names have been recommended by the awards committee,” a top source said on condition of anonymity.
It is learnt that India’s top male shuttler Kidambi Srikanth was in contention for his good show in the Super Series Circuit last year but lost out to the 24-year-old Chanu, who is the reigning world champion in the 48kg category with a world record to boot.
Khel Ratna is awarded for “spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports over a period of four years” at international level.
The nominations for a given year are accepted till 30 April or last working day of April with not more than two sportspersons nominated for each sports discipline. A 12-member committee evaluates the performances of a sportsperson at various International events. The committee later submits their recommendations to the Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports for further approval.
Kohli, the world’s No. 1 Test batsman as per the ICC rankings, has been in stupendous form for the past three years and missed out despite nominations in the years 2016 and 2017. The 29-year-old currently has 6147 runs in 71 Tests with 23 centuries and 9779 runs in 211 ODIs, including 35 tons.
With a combined 58 tons in international cricket, he is only second to Sachin Tendulkar (100) in the list of century-scorers in international cricket. The BCCI has been nominating Kohli for the Khel Ratna for the past three years but in 2016, it was given to Sakshi Malik, PV Sindhu and Deepa Karmakar for their good show at the Rio Olympic Games. ■ on conditions, we may have to play our XI. Looking at the pitches and all that, we have the perfect combination.”
Noting that India getting to play all their matches in Dubai stadium was an advantage, he said: “This tournament doesn’t give you any chance to make a mistake. You’ve got to be at it all the time. Playing at the same venue is an advantage but every opposition is different and you’ve to plan accordingly. You can’t go with the same strategy and mindset as you go with Hong Kong tomorrow and day after with Pakistan. You have to change your team dynamics, the way you play, the strategy, bowling changes, batting orders etc. Right now I’ll say we have bit of advantage, but you’ve to play good cricket to win the game.”
When asked where Lokesh Rahul will bat, Sharma said: “I can’t give you who is going to bat where. There are lot of spots up for grabs — No. 3, 4, 6 — all those positions are up for grabs. All the guys are eyeing that. I will have to go back and see what the best combination can be for the series. Obviously, we want to give as many chances as possible to the guys to make sure the No. 4 and 6 spot are sealed.”
To a query about 20-year debutant left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmad. Sharma said: “I am quite excited about Khaleel. He is a great variation to squad. He generates quite a bit of pace. He’s young, quite talented and can swing the ball as well at the same time. I am quite excited of his addition to the squad. From whatever I’ve seen of him, he can get batsmen into trouble.”
We are treating every team as equal. We are not looking at the opposition. We are looking at what we want to do as a team and improve as a team.” Rohit Sharma » Team India captain