Thiruvananthapuram, India: Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has been selected for the Sree Chithira Thirunal Trust national award for his excellent contributions in the field of sports.

The award, comprising a cash prize of Rs100,000 and citation, has been instituted by the Kerala-based Trust to honour those who proved their excellence in sports at the national level.

Gavaskar’s contributions and achievements as cricketer, commentator and administrator had been considered for the recognition, the Trust said in a release on Sunday. Gavaskar is the first sports personality to win the award.

A panel, comprising former BCCI secretary S.K. Nair, Trust Chairman T. Raveendran Thampi, S.N. Ravichandran Nair, N. Harikumar and T. Satheesh Kumar, selected the winner.

The award will be presented to Gavaskar at a function to be held here on November 12.