With India’s limited-overs vice-captain, Rohit Sharma being nominated for India’s most prestigious sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the debate for, ‘who deserves the nomination’ has started again. In a cricket crazy nation like India, it is surprising to see that even after 28 years of it being instituted, the Khel Ratna has been presented to only three cricketers.
If Sharma gets it, he would become a member of the elite club, which presently has India’s greatest batsman till date, Sachin Tendulkar, India’s greatest captain till date, MS Dhoni and the third one is the amalgamation of 70% Sachin and 30% Dhoni, the legend in making Virat Kohli.
There are many cricketers who should have got this award but were ignored.
Yuvraj Singh
The choice might surprise many, but he indeed was the most deserving person to win the award in 2012.
According to the rules, ‘To be eligible for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports by a sportsperson over a period of four years immediately preceding the year during which award is to be given will be considered for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award for excellence in Sports & Games at International level i.e. Olympic/Paralympics/Asian, Commonwealth Games! Championships/World Cup/World Championship and equivalent recognized international tournaments.’
In that case, Yuvraj had performed exceedingly well in the World Cup and India had also won the World Cup. In the period ranging from 2008 to 2011, the four years, which should have been the eligibility criteria for Yuvraj, he had scored 2478 runs in 79 matches at an average of 39.33, which in those days was considered more than impressive.
Not only that, but he also took 55 wickets in the same period with an average of 34.96. Prior to 2008, India had won the all-important T20 World Cup in late 2007 and in that too, Yuvraj played an important role with his blistering knock in the semi-finals. His records of 2007 in ODIs too were impressive as he scored more than thousand runs in the calendar year with an average of more than 45.
The rule doesn’t say that a person without the Arjuna award cannot win the Khel Ratna and the precedent was set by MS Dhoni the captain of the team himself, who had won the Khel Ratna in 2007, even before winning the Arjuna Award, which he never won, because it was not needed after his Khel Ratna.
Winner of the Man of the Tournament award in a World Cup (2011), having played through cancer and helped the team win the all-important quarterfinal against Australia in the 2011 WC and made a comeback after cancer with a fighting spirit like no one else. After all this, Yuvraj surely deserved much more than the Arjuna award in 2012 and that much more is Khel Ratna.
Mithali Raj
Yes, yet another surprise for most people reading the list. But, Why Mithali Raj is the question. Two times World Cup finalist who led the team to almost a World Cup victory in 2017, leading run-scorer (6888) in the women’s cricket in ODIs, best T20I average among players with more than 2000 runs, best ODI average among players with more than 4000 runs, an average of more than 50 in Tests, nearing 10,000 international runs, which would make her only the second woman after England’s Charlotte Edwards to reach the milestone and most importantly no controversies whatsoever, Mitahli Raj is the epitome of professionalism in women’s sport in India.
She has carried the Indian flag in cricket on her shoulders for more than a decade and a half now and has led with example. A role model for many girls that have come through the ranks in Indian cricket and a personality to look up to for many others preparing to enter the sporting arena, Mithali has been truly inspirational.
With such brilliant performances and a magnanimous leadership, she deserves the Khel Ratna, not only for her but for those girls dreaming to make it big, back in the villages and small towns. For them to believe that yes, it’s possible to make it big by being a girl and yet playing a team sport.
Already an Arjuna and Padma awardee, Raj hasn’t retired yet and would be wishing to win the 2021 World Cup to end a perfect career on a high note.
Rahul Dravid
If there was ever a great ambassador of Indian cricket, it wouldn’t have been better than the Wall, Rahul Dravid. He did not only score a humongous amount of runs consistently, but his behaviour on and off the field was exemplary.
From a team man who stood up for every role that he was asked to do to, a captain who lead Team India to achieve some of the memorable Test victories across foreign shores to silently passing on the baton to youngsters like MS Dhoni, Dravid did everything that a player must do to propel himself, his team and his sport forward without harming the interest of anyone.
With more than 13,000 runs in Tests and more than 10,000 runs in ODIs and all those crucial partnerships, be it with Laxman in Kolkata or with Tendulkar in England, Dravid proved his worth in his chosen field. What he added to that field is prestige, class, a role model par excellence, a representative of the country that commanded respect wherever he went, whatever he did.
If these are not the qualities enough for getting the Khel Ratna, I don’t know what are? After all, it’s the greatest sporting honour in the country.