Published: Jan 25, 2017, 05:54 PM (IST)
Edited: Jan 25, 2017, 05:54 PM (IST)
Following a fruitful and eventful 2016, Indian skipper Virat Kohli has been chosen as the awardee for the upcoming Padma Shri Awards in 2017, where he is all set to receive one of the prestigious awards in the nation. Along with him, another cricketer from Karnataka, Shekar Naik has also been listed among the awardees. Naik is the captain of the Indian blind cricket team. Overall, eight sportspersons have made it to the list as discus thrower Vikas Gowda, Deepa Malik, Mariyappan Thangavelu, Olympic gymnast Deepa Karmakar, Hockey player PR Shreejesh, and wrestler Sakshi Malik are also among the awardees, who are all set to receive the prestigious national award for the year 2017.
Earlier, ahead of the first Twenty20 International (T20I) against visitors England at Kanpur on Thursday, Kohli had a few words for the current English side. “There is no doubt about the talent that is available in the English team. As you mention the small window has always been an issue [in IPL]. Not many teams want to spend money on players who are not available for the whole of IPL. You rather prefer to have a guy who lasts the whole tournament and gives you that extra balance. That is my point of view. Teams might think differently,” said Kohli, who captains the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: India vs England, 1st T20I at Kanpur
Kohli also praised newcomers in the T20I side, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Parvez Rasool. “The guys who have come in have done pretty well in the IPL, in the domestic T20s. The areas they are bowling in are pretty good and are pretty economical. Yuzvendra, everyone has seen his performances, even Rasool played under me at RCB,” Kohli said.
