Mumbai, July 14: Team India’s pace spearhead Zaheer Khan has been recommended to the government for the Arjuna Award by The Board of Control for Cricket in India. "We have recommended only one name, that of Zaheer Khan, for the Arjuna Award," BCCI's chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty was quoted as saying.

Zaheer would be the 44th cricketer to be given the honour if the recommendation is accepted by the government.

The 32-year-old left-arm pacer made his international debut in 2000 and has claimed 271 wickets from 78 Tests and 273 ODI wickets from 191 matches.

From the current Indian squad, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, V V S Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Gautam Gambhir have been recipients of the award for their outstanding achievement in the sport.

In 2010, Jhulan Goswami, skipper of the Indian women’s cricket team, received the award at the recommendation of the BCCI.