Dravid nominated for Khel Ratna

Rahul Dravid has been recommended by the BCCI for this year's Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, India's highest honour in sports. The board has also decided to nominate allrounder Yuvraj Singh for the Arjuna award, an honour given by the Indian government to recognise achievements in sports.

"We will be forwarding the names of Rahul Dravid for Khel Ratna Award and Yuvraj Singh for the Arjuna Award next week (to the government)," BCCI's chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty said.

Dravid could become only the third cricketer to win the Khel Ratna after Sachin Tendulkar (1997-98) and MS Dhoni (2007-08). Dravid, who ended a 16-year international career earlier this year, has already won the Arjuna Award in the year 1998. He is the third-highest run-getter in Test history, with 13,288 runs.

Yuvraj's nomination for the Arjuna Award has come as a recognition for his starring role during India's successful campaign in the World Cup last year. Yuvraj, who is recovering from a rare germ-cell cancer for the last six months, scored 362 runs and took 15 wickets to be the Man of the Tournament.

"It's an honour that BCCI has nominated my name for the Arjuna Award," Yuvraj said. "This is the second time that my name has been nominated and I hope that I am lucky enough to get it."

The BCCI's recommendations came after the government extended the deadline for the nominations to July 20. Earlier, the board had said that they had not received any intimation about the deadline.