‘Honoured and humbled’ – Rohit Sharma grateful after being nominated for Khel Ratna Award

Rohit Sharma, the vice-captain of the India ODI and T20I teams, has recently been nominated for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. The nomination was done by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The Nagpur-born has been an unstoppable force for the national team over the last few months. Last year, he even smashed his maiden double century in Test cricket.

Even as Rohit was nominated for the highest honour, Ishant Sharma, Deepti Sharma, and Shikhar Dhawan have been dominated for the Arjuna Awards. The nominations were made taking into account performances beginning January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2019. In the meantime, the 33-year-old Rohit was absolutely over the moon after being nominated.

A proud Rohit Sharma

BCCI posted a video where Rohit was thanking one and all. The post read. “I am extremely honoured and humbled”- @ImRo45 on being nominated for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award…”

In the video, Rohit was heard saying, “Extremely honoured and humbled to be nominated by the BCCI for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, which is the highest sporting honour in India.

“I am grateful to BCCI and all my teammates, support staff and fans of the game, and my family for sticking by me. Thank you very much.”

Here is the post:

"I am extremely honored and humbled"- @ImRo45 on being nominated for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award 2020 🗣️🙌 #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/GmHqpEvwkF

— BCCI (@BCCI) May 31, 2020

Rohit is currently spending all his time at his residence due to the lockdown phase. The coronavirus pandemic has brought every other cricket tournament to a halt from March onwards. Rohit was set to play for the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). However, the tournament has now been postponed for an indefinite period of time due to COVID-19.

Rohit is the most successful skipper in the IPL, having won four titles. He has also won India the Asia Cup and the Nidahas Trophy in 2018 and has a decent record in captaincy.  When Virat Kohli, the regular skipper isn’t there, Rohit takes charge.

He also has four T20I centuries to his name, the most by any at the highest level. Moreover, Rohit has the highest individual score of 264 in ODIs against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. He achieved the milestone back in 2014.