India's white ball vice-captain Rohit Sharma has expressed his gratitude after BCCI nominated him for the country's highest sporting honour -- Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award -- for his brilliant show during the last few years.
"Extremely honoured and humbled to be nominated by the BCCI for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award which is the highest sporting honour in India. I am thankful to BCCI, my teammates, support staff, fans of the game and my family for sticking by," Rohit said in a video uploaded by the bcci.tv.
Rohit hit an unprecedented five hundreds in a single edition of the World Cup last year and had a great run last year.
Rohit has scored 9115 runs in 224 ODIs with 29 hundreds and 43 fifties in white-ball cricket.
BCCI secretary Jay Shah termed Rohit as perfect "teamman" who led well in absence of regular skipper Virat Kohli.
"In the last five years, Rohit Sharma has not only raised the bar with his individual performances but has also led the Indian team with distinction in Virat Kohli's absence," Shah was quoted as saying in a BCCI press release on Saturday.
Left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan, pacer Ishant Sharma and woman cricketer Deepti Sharma have been nominated for the Arjuna Award.