The veteran Indian opener, Rohit Sharma was nominated for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award 2020 by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on Saturday. Soon the opener explained feeling honored and humbled by the news, India’s limited-overs vice-captain thanked the cricket board, his teammates, support staff, fans of the game and his family for being by his side.

Captioning Rohit’s vide expressing gratitude, BCCI tweeted: “I am extremely honoured and humbled”- @ImRo45 on being nominated for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award 2020 #TeamIndia.”

"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 Sharma was India’s star performer at the 2019 ODI World Cup and was also named the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year for his stupendous performance. In the tournament, he amassed as many s 648 runs with the help of 5  centuries (which is a record in itself).

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Interestingly, the opening batsman also became the first player in the history of the game to score five ODI centuries in one edition of the World Cup. Rohit is also the first batsman to score four T20I centuries and has two centuries in his maiden appearance as a Test opener.

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In the press release announcing the nominations, BCCI President, Sourav Ganguly said, “We went through a lot of data and considered various parameters before shortlisting the nominees. Rohit Sharma has set new benchmarks as a batsman and achieved scores people thought were not possible in the shorter formats of the game. We feel he is worthy of getting the prestigious Khel Ratna award for his commitment, conduct, consistency and his leadership skills.”

Moreover, Ishant Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, and Deepti Sharma have been nominated for Arjuna Award.