BCCI nominates MS Dhoni for the Padma Bhushan Award

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has honored the veteran batsman MS Dhoni for his contributions to Indian cricket. He has been nominated by the board for the third highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan award.

The wicketkeeper has already been honored with Arjuna Award, Rajeev Gandhi Khel Ratna, and the Padma Shri Award. Only 10 cricketers in the past have won this award with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar being the notable ones.

A stalwart of the game

MS Dhoni has been one of the biggest contributors for the Indian cricket. Arguably the most successful captain ever won the 2007 ICC World T20, 2011 ODI World Cup and 2013 Champions Trophy. Under his leadership, India became the No.1 ranked team in Test cricket. He is the only captain in the world to have won all the ICC trophies.

For a number of years, the right-hander donned the role of a finisher and won numerous games for the country. The most famous knock of his came in the final of the 2011 ODI World Cup against Sri Lanka where he scored unbeaten 91 to bring the prestigious trophy home after 28 years.

He left the Test captaincy in 2015 and handed over the reigns to Virat Kohli after featuring in 90 Tests. He scored 4876 runs at an average of 38.09 with 6 centuries and 33 half-centuries.

In 2016, he resigned from limited overs captaincy as well making Kohli the skipper across all formats. So far, Dhoni has played 302 ODIs and scored 9737 runs at an astonishing average of 52.35 with 10 hundreds and 66 fifties. In addition to that, the 36-year-old has played 78 T20Is for India where he has scored 1212 runs.

Even at the age of 36, he is still going strong for the country. With the recent few knocks, he looks well set to represent India in the 2019 ODI World Cup.