No Arjuna Award for India's cricketers this year

None of India's top international cricketers will get nomination for the prestigious Arjuna Award for their performance during the last season, apparently due to a major communication gap between the sports ministry and the BCCI.

As the deadline for the respective sports associations to send the names of the candidates is over, it has been found that BCCI hasn't sent any names despite the fact that in 2011 the senior cricket team won the World Cup and Virat Kohli was one of the top run-getters in ODI cricket.

BCCI chief administrative officer Prof Ratnakar Shetty. File Pic/Sameer Markande

"We haven't received the Arjuna nomination from the union sports ministry. I can tell you that this has happened for the first time that we haven't received the format which requires to be filled up and also duly signed by our nominee. When they haven't sent us an intimation, how do we send a name," BCCI's chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty told PTI.

"The process of selecting a cricketer and getting all the formalities done takes some time and only the people in the sports ministry can tell as to why we didn't get the form," Shetty said.

When contacted, Abhijit Rai, OSD to Sports Minister Ajay Maken, said, "The question of sending form to BCCI doesn't arise as it is available on the internet. Any sports association can download it and fill it up. As of now, I am unable to provide you with further details as to why BCCI didn't send their nomination."