5 Indian Cricketers with Khel Ratna Award

For any sports personality in India, receiving Khel Ratna Award from the President of India is one of the best moments in his/her life. It requires sheer excellence and diligence from a sportsperson to earn this honour. Instituted in 1991-92, Viswanathan Anand was the first to receive this award. Later, Leander Paes, Abhinav Bindra, M.C. Mary Kom, and Gagan Narang also joined the list.

Apart from other sports, some cricketers have also taken this honour home for their standout displays over a period of four years. As of 2022, 55 sportsmen have received this honour, of which five are cricketers. Among these five cricketers, two are still serving the nation with dedication, while the other three hung their boots after providing their valuable services to the country for a long time.

Here are five cricketers who received Khel Ratna Award

5. Mithali Raj

In 2021, Mithali Raj created history as she received the highest sporting honour of India, the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award from the former President of India Ram Nath Kovind. Along with her, some other notable sports personalities, such as Neeraj Chopra (Javelin), Sunil Chhetri (Football), Lovlina Borgohain (Boxing), P Sreejesh (Hockey) got the award in a function organised at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Mithali became the first woman cricketer in 2017, to have seven consecutive half-centuries in women’s ODI cricket. She also holds the record of smashing the most half-centuries (64) in Women’s One-Day Internationals. The swashbuckling former India Women’s batter made her international debut in 1999, at the age of 16.

In her debut year, she hit a century against Ireland and became the youngest centurion in women’s cricket. The veteran held this record for 22 years until Ireland's Amy Hunter smashed unbeaten 121 runs against Zimbabwe in 2021. In 2022, she announced her retirement from all forms of career after giving her valuable services to the India Women’s team for almost 23 years.