| Scores | Upcoming | Results |
| ||
New Delhi: MS Dhoni the cricket star was chosen for the country's highest sporting honour - "Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna" for the year 2007 by the award panel after a meeting in the Capital on Monday. The awards would be presented by President Pratibha Patil at a function in President House on August 29, the National Sports Day.
MS Dhoni captain of the Indian ODI and T20 team, is only the second cricketer to be selected for the award after Sachin Tendulkar. He received the award for 1997, eight years after be started playing for the country at the highest level.
Maahi's selecttion came just three years into his international career. What must have tilted the scales in his favour was India's success at the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007, where the man from Ranchi led the team to the title. The honour for the 27 year old would certainly cheer up the cricket fraternity, for since 2003, no male cricketer could win either the Khel Ratna or the Arjuna awards.
Harbhajan Singh was the last one to with an Arjuna award in 2003. Rahul Dravid came closest to bagging the Khel Ratna when he was nominated for two consecutive years by BCCI, in 2005 and 2006. But in 2005, he was pipped to to post by cueist Pankaj Advani while the honour was bestowed upon world trap shooting champion Manavjit Singh in 2006.
