Dravid says he was unaware of nomination for Khel Ratna

Former Indian captain Rahul Dravid on Tuesday reacted to the Rajiv Gandhi khel Ratna controversy claiming that he was unaware about his nomination for the highest sports award in the country.

When asked if callousness on part of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) cost one of the greatest Indian batsmen his due, Dravid said, “I am not sure what I have been nominated for. How can I say anything?”

Dravid’s statement reflects that he was kept in the dark by the BCCI about his khel Ratna Nomination

The BCCI also reacted on Tuesday after being accused of not having pushed hard Dravid’s case for the Khel Ratna and not fleshing out his exploits in details.

BCCI president N. Srinivasan said, “We had proposed Dravid’s name. Do you expect us to lobby? It is not question of giving all the details about a legendary player. Everybody knows him. We gave sufficient information.”

Ironically, thec had only included cursory details of Dravid’s record in the last year despite being given ample time to meet the deadline. The deadline for the nominations was extended just to accommodate BCCI’s recommendations.

While the achievement columns of most of the other Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award nominees listed their achievements in detail, the BCCI had kept the list of its nominees’ achievements too concise.

Dravid was not finally selected by the Union sports ministry’s committee that announced names of London Olympics silver medallist Vijay Kumar (shooting) and bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt (wrestling) for the honour last week.

YuvuaRaj Singh, who has been preparing to stage a comeback after recovering from a rare germ cell cancer, was the only cricketer among the 25 sportsperson who were picked for the Arjuna Award.