Virat Kohli will receive Khel Ratna despite zero points

What's the story?

The skipper of Indian Men's Cricket team, Virat Kohli will receive the prestigious Rajeev Gandhi Khel Ratna Award on 25th September. Kohli and World Champion weightlifter, Mirabai Chanu have been nominated by a 11-member selection committee for the top honours.

What is the point system?

A question may arise as to why Kohli, who has been in prolific form since the last couple of years, did not receive any points. Well, the answer is simple. It is all due to the structure of the points system used by the committee. The point system has been framed keeping in mind the performances in Olympics and international tournaments.

Cricket isn't an Olympic sport, so the scores of cricketers will always remain zero, leaving room for controversies.

What is the controversy?

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) nominated Kohli for the topmost award in the field of sports. No criteria exists for Virat's performance, as per the old points system. Kohli was selected purely by consensus. A panel member informed that there was a massive debate over the Indian captain's candidature. Finally, eight out of the eleven-panel members agreed to his selection.

There were six nominees who had a higher score than Kohli (0) and Chanu (44). Wrestler Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat topped the list with 80 points each, para-athlete Deepa Malik followed with 78.4 points, table-tennis player Manika Batra (65), archer Abhishek Verma (55.3) and boxer Vikash Krishnan (52) were next in line. Bajrang Punia showed resentment over his ignorance, after his meeting with Sports Minister Rajyawardhan Singh Rathore, stating that he would knock the doors of the court against the decision.

Author's take

The current methodology seems to be inefficient for the right selection of the candidates. It is essential that all things must be on the same ground. It is hard for other sportsmen who have toiled hard and fetched up important points by arduous work, to accept their rejection. Perhaps, a modification in the criteria of the performance in cricket is needed, where the World Cup must be treated as equivalent to Olympics and tournaments such as Asia Cup must be equivalent to Asian games. Though, this isn't the ideal method but certainly better than the existing one.