Cricketers Who Won Arjuna Award

The Arjuna Award is given for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games as the sports honour in India. This award is named after Arjuna, a character from Mahabharata of ancient India. The award is given annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. It is the second-highest sporting honour of India after Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna.

The recipients are selected by a committee formed by the Ministry and are honoured for their “good performance in the field of sports over a period of four years” at the international level and for having shown “qualities of leadership, sportsmanship and a sense of discipline.” At present, the award comprises “a bronze statuette of Arjuna, certificate, ceremonial dress, and a cash prize of ₹15 lakh.

This award was instituted in 1961 to honour the outstanding sportspersons of the nations. Over the years, there have been various changes in the criteria used to give the award. According to the latest revision in 2018, the award is given only to the disciplines included in the events of Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Asia Games, Commonwealth Games, World Championship and World Cup, and also including Cricket, Indigenous Games and Parasports.

In this article, we will be listing out all the cricket players who have been honoured with the Arjuna Award. To date, a total of 56 cricketers have received this award including both Men’s and Women’s cricket. The first winner was the former Indian all-rounder Salim Durani who received the award in 1961. Shantha Rangaswamy became the first female cricketer to received this honour in 1976.

Cricketers who won Arjuna Award list