Union Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Friday gave away the Arjuna Award to R. Ashwin. The off-spinner was unable to make it to the National Sports Awards function on August 29 last year as he was in England playing the One-Day International series.
Dressed in the traditional maroon-coloured blazer designed for Arjuna awardees, Ashwin received the award at a special function organised in the chamber of the Sports Minister here. The award includes a bronze statuette, a citation and Rs. five lakh.
After receiving the honour, the off-spinner uploaded pictures of the function on his Twitter account and said, “A proud moment in life. Received the award from the honourable minister of state (independent charge) Shri Sarbananda Sonowal.”
Ashwin, 28, was the 48th cricketer to receive the prestigious award. He emerged as a dependable bowler in all formats of the game, capturing 124 wickets (apart from scoring 1009 runs, including two hundreds) in 25 Tests, 139 scalps in 99 ODIs and 25 in 26 T20 Internationals.
Ashwin, who took 18 matches to complete 100 Test wickets, became the fastest Indian to reach the milestone in November 2013, edging past spin legend Erapalli Prasanna (20 Tests).
He is the fifth fastest bowler in Test history to bag 100 wickets.
