Yuvraj Singh “honoured” at Arjuna Award nomination

Yuvraj Singh “honoured” at Arjuna Award nomination – Cricket News Update

India’s star batsman Yuvraj Singh has stated that he is “honoured” the BCCI nominated him for the Arjuna award (for which he has also been nominated previously), adding that he hoped he would be luckier this time around.

“It's an honour that BCCI has nominated my name for the Arjuna Award. This is the second time that my name has been nominated and I hope that I am lucky enough to get it,” he said, in conversation with the media at the launch of “YouWeCan”– a campaign which aims to spread awareness regarding the detection of cancer.

Despite the heroics of India’s young vice-captain Virat Kohli over the past year, the board decided to nominate Yuvraj owing to his seniority. His contemporaries, including Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, and Harbhajan Singh, have all received the award.

The board had an initial miscommunication with the Indian Sports ministry regarding the nominations – however, Mukul Chatterjee, Joint Secretary of the Sports Ministry, informed the board a few days back that the nomination deadline had been extended to July 20, following which the board sent in Yuvraj’s name.

The Arjuna Award, instituted by the government of India, is recognition for outstanding individual achievements in sports. The 30-year-old was the hero of India’s 2011 World Cup victory – he won four Player of the Match award, was crowned the Player of the Tournament, scored a total of 362 runs, and claimed 15 scalps.

The all-rounder has played 37 Tests (with 1775 runs to his credit) and 274 ODIs (8051 runs) for the national side. His career came to an abrupt halt in November last year, after he was diagnosed with a rare germ cell cancer, and travelled to the United Sates to undergo chemotherapy treatment.

Following his return, the southpaw has expressed the desire to make a comeback to the sport in the ICC World Twenty20, scheduled for September this year in Sri Lanka, although he has also indicated his interest in playing a couple of matches during the limited-overs leg of New Zealand’s tour of India, in order to regain his full form before the mega event.