Sachin Tendulkar, often called the "The God Of World Cricket" is confered with "Bharath Ratna" which is the highest civilian award in India. I tried to understand what is "Bharath Ratna" and what are the criterias for conferring it on a person and I got to understand that there is only one criteria for it
"for performance of highest order in any field of human
endeavour."
So, it is not restricted to any specific field which makes anybody eligible to receive the award.
I am given to understand that the award is recommended by the Prime Minister of India to the President of India after a jury selects the awardee on various criteria. In many cases, the jury may not able be take a decision due to various reasons such as lack of field knowledge, unable to ascertain credibility, incompetence in the specialization. I have no idea what happens in such cases. May be, the jury decides to give a lower award.
In Sachin's case, his fame, glory and the credibility he has bestowed on Indian minds and on world cricket puts no doubt that he is worth the award.
