The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday congratulated opener and limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma for becoming the fourth Indian batsman to be conferred with the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. Rohit is among the five athletes to receive this year's Khel Ratna award.
"Congratulations @ImRo45 for being conferred with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, 2020, India’s highest sporting honour. He is only the fourth Indian cricketer to receive this award. We are proud of you, Hitman!" tweeted BCCI.
Rohit joined Sachin Tendulkar (1998), MS Dhoni (2007) and captain Virat Kohli (2018) in the elite list.
During the period of consideration for the award - January 2016 to December 2019 - Rohit scored the joint-most number of ODI centuries (20), the second-most international centuries (27) after Kohli, most T20I runs with a tally of 1766, joint-most number of T20I centuries (three), scored is third ODI double ton, the most number of international sixes with a tally of 263 and a record five World Cup centuries.
Besides Rohit, woman paddler Manika Batra, Rio Paralympic gold-winning high jumper Mariappan Thangavelu, women's hockey captain Rani Rampal and decorated wrestler Vinesh Phogat will also receive the award.
The five names were recommended on Tuesday by a committee, comprising the likes of Virender Sehwag and former hockey captain Sardar Singh which met at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) headquarters in New Delhi.
