Ajinkya Rahane to receive Arjuna award

Ajinkya Rahane will become the 49th Indian cricketer to be conferred with the prestigious Arjuna award. The award is presented by the Indian government for excellence in sports for a period of four years.

"I would like to thank BCCI, all my fans, the sports ministry for this award. It means a lot to me. I'm sure this award will motivate and inspire me to do well," Rahane said via a video message on Twitter on Monday (August 22).

Rahane is the fourth-highest run-getter for India in the last four years in Tests, behind Virat Kohli,
Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay. He has scored 1862 runs in 26 Tests at an average of 49 with seven centuries to his name. In addition to the brilliant run in the longest format of the game, he has scored 1753 runs in 56 One-Day Internationals and 303 runs in 16 Twenty20 Internationals. Rahane will receive the award with India's Olympic athletes Lalita Babar (athletics), Shiva Thapa (boxing) and VR Raghunath (hockey).

Rajkumar Sharma, the former Delhi cricketer and Virat Kohli's first coach, has been handed the Dronacharya award for his services to cricket. He played nine first-class games and three List A matches between 1986 and 1989.