Ravindra Jadeja smashed a stunning half century in the World Cup semi-final last month
India men’s allrounder Ravindra Jadeja and women’s wristspinner Poonam Yadav were presented with the Arjuna Award, an honour bestowed by the Indian government to recognise outstanding individual achievement in sports. The pair received their awards from the president of the country, on Thursday, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi.
Jadeja, 30, and Poonam, 28, were among four cricketers – Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah being the others – recommended for the award by the BCCI in April. They were the only cricketers among the pool of 19 athletes to receive the award this year.
Currently on tour in the Caribbean, Jadeja occupies the fourth place on the ICC rankings for Test allrounders. He also struck a half-century and picked two wickets in India’s 318-run victory against West Indies and during the World Cup last month, he almost carried India to the final with a flamboyant 59-ball 79 against New Zealand.
Poonam, meanwhile, is India’s leading wicket-taker in T20Is and is ranked No. 2 by the ICC. She was the world’s T20I leading bowler last year with 35 wickets in 25 innings at an average of 14.91 and strike rate of 15.4, including a career-best 4 for 9 in the final of the Asia Cup, which India last off the last ball.
Earlier this year, she was promoted to BCCI’s Grade A contracts list, having been part of the Indian sides that finished runners-up in the 2017 ODI World Cup in England and the T20 World Cup in November last year.
Jadeja is the latest Arjuna Awardee among an elite list of former and current men’s cricketers that include Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and Virat Kohli among others.
Poonam, meanwhile, is the third India women’s cricketer – and 11th overall since 1976 – to win the award, following T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur and opener Smriti Mandhana.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo