BCCI to recommend Mithali Raj, R Ashwin for Khel Ratna; Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah for Arjuna: Report

India women’s ODI and Test team captain Mithali Raj and men’s team senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin are set to be nominated for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award – the country’s highest sporting honour – by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), reported news agency PTI.

Men’s team batsmen Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah will be recommended for the Arjuna award. BCCI has decided not to send any names from the women’s team for the Arjuna award.

"No women cricketer has been nominated for Arjuna. Mithali's name has been recommended for Khel Ratna," a BCCI official told PTI on Wednesday.

Mithali Raj continues to be one of the biggest names in Indian cricket. She completed 22 years in international cricket last week. The 38 year-old is also the leading run getter in ODIs with more than 7000 runs.

Ashwin, who is already an Arjuna awardee like Mithali, has also been a consistent performer for India in Test cricket. He has taken 413 wickets in 79 Tests besides 150 and 42 scalps in ODIs and T20s though he doesn't play for India in the shorter formats.

Dhawan, who will be captaining India in the upcoming limited overs series in Sri Lanka, is a frontrunner for Arjuna. The 35-year-old southpaw has scored 5977 runs in 142 ODIs besides 2315 and 1673 Test and T20 runs respectively.

Last year, India limited-overs vice captain Rohit Sharma was among the five Indian sportspersons to bag the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.

(With PTI inputs)