Ministry extends Arjuna nomination date for BCCI

In a reconciliatory gesture, the Sports ministry made an exception for BCCI by extending the last date for filing nominations for Arjuna awards to July 20.

The Sports Ministry's extension of the deadline will thus allow the BCCI to nominate its cricketers for the prestigious government award.

"The joint secretary of ministry of sports Mukul Chatterjee personally called up to inform that the last date for filing the Arjuna award nomination has been extended till July 20. After the telephonic conversation, the BCCI has also received a fax stating the same from the ministry," a senior BCCI official said.

"Whatever miscommunication existed is a thing of past now. Obviously, we will be filing nominations. The BCCI president, secretary and the national selectors will assess as to who is the most eligible candidate for the award," the official added.

As of now, Team India vice-captain Virat Kohli is the front-runner for his prolific performance in the ODIs throughout the last season. The other name that can come up for dicussion is that of Ravichandran Ashwin.

It must be recalled that BCCI and ministry officials were engaged in a war of words and denials after the cricket board claimed that they weren't send the nomination forms.

The ministry on their part stated that it was available on the internet and later released a list of associations that were send the nomination forms. However that list didn't include BCCI as they don't come under the aegis of National Sports Federation (NSFs).

However with ministry now extending the date, the misunderstanding is expected to end for the time being.