Team India have seen huge success since they have reached the final of 2017 World Cup. They have reached the final of T20 World Cup 2020 in March in Australia. Post-2017 World Cup, team India have shown constant performances in both One Day and T20 format as well. In the 2020 T20 World Cup, Shafali Verma, Poonam Yadav, Shikha Pandey and Deepti Sharma stood out.
Their stunning performances led India to the final of the mega event. However, their performances impressed everyone including BCCI. Therefore, the BCCI team have suggested the names of Shikha Pandey and Deepti Sharma for this year’s Arjuna Awards. Their commendable performances in the World T20 as well as in the last year helped their names being forwarded to the office-bearers for the recommendation for the prestigious awards.
“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,” the source added.
Shikha Pandey claimed seven wickets from five games with the best figures of 3/14. Deepti Sharma, on the other hand, played an all-round role in the tournament. Her unbeaten 49 in the lower order against champions Australia in the opening game helped India win the game. She finished the tournament with 116 runs.
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“I’ve done engineering, and I’m an officer in the Indian Air Force. I joined the Air Force in 2012, and I took my training as well, and now I happen to be a flying officer, ATC officer. Then in 2014, I debuted for the Indian cricket team,” Shikha Pandey had revealed during the World T20.
However, the Sports Ministry on May 5 invited nominations for the 2020 National Sports Awards which also included the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award and the Arjuna Award. The ministry also asked for nominations to send via e-mail because of the global pandemic novel coronavirus outbreak. Meanwhile, the process has been delayed due to the pandemic.
“Due to lockdown on account of the outbreak of COVID-19, hard copies of nominations are not required to be sent. Scanned copies of the nominations duly signed by the applicant/recommending authority may be sent at above mentioned email ids, before last date of submission,” said the ministry in its circular.
The ministry, however, gave a deadline of June 3 to file the nominations.
