Virat Kohli added another feather to his cap on Tuesday after he was conferred with India’s highest sporting honour in a ceremony at New Delhi.
The India skipper, along with weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, was awarded with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna by Indian President Ram Nath Kovind at a ceremony held in the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi.
In doing so, Kohli has become only the third Indian cricketer after Sachin Tendulkar in 1997 and MS Dhoni in 2007 to be awarded the sporting honour. The annual Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna is awarded to the best athlete in the country over the past one year.
This is the fourth time that the 29-year-old’s name has been nominated by the BCCI for the prestigious award. Kohli was nominated for the award for the past three years too by the cricketing body but was beaten to the prize by other athletes.
Kohli was accompanied by his wife Anushka Sharma, mother and brother for the award ceremony.
Indian cricket captain @imVkohli receives #RajivGandhiKhelRatnaAward , 2018#NationalSportsAwards2018 @BCCI https://t.co/zlKHQS6iH0 pic.twitter.com/potdXZ3LfH
— PIB India (@PIB_India) September 25, 2018
The India superstar has had a stellar year with the bat in all formats of the game. His outstanding form with the bat has seen him rise to the top of the ICC batsmen’s rankings for both the Test and the ODI format.
The Delhi-born batsman is approaching 10,000 runs in ODI cricket and has so far registered 35 tons in the format. His two centuries in the recent Test series in England has seen the right-hander’s tally in the format rise to 23 and level with Australia’s Steve Smith.
The India batsman is currently being given a well-deserved rest by the BCCI while the rest of his team-mates battle it out in the ongoing Asia Cup in the UAE.
