The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is likely to forward the names of Indian Women cricketers Shikha Pandey and Deepti Sharma to the Sports Ministry for the prestigious Arjuna Awards.
It is being said that Shikha and Deepti’s performances in the recent ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020, where India finished as runner-up in Australia, as well as, their consistent show in the last season have encouraged the BCCI's Cricket Operations team to forward their names to the office-bearers for the recommendation for this year's Arjuna Awards.
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As per reports in IANS, sources close to the developments said: “Yes, the office-bearers were given the names of Shikha and Deepti by the cricket operations team for not just their brilliant show in the World T20 in Australia where we finished as runners-up, but also for their consistent showing in the last season. These two names have been forwarded to the office-bearers and are likely to be forwarded to the ministry for the Arjuna Awards once they approve.”
Arjuna Awards are presented by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India to Indian athletes to acknowledge their efforts in the world of sports.
Shikha, who is also a part of the Indian Air Force, picked seven wickets from five games with best figures of 3/14, while Deepti played an all-round role for women’s team, finishing with 116 runs – one of the top 10 batters, as well as 4 wickets in 5 innings in the World T20 2020.
Noteworthy, the Sports Ministry on May 5 invited nominations via e-mail due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic for the 2020 National Sports Awards including the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award and the Arjuna Award with a deadline of June 3 to file the nominations.
(With IANS Inputs)
