Virat Kohli and weightlifter Mirabai Chanu recommended for Khel Ratna

Captain of the Indian Cricket Team Virat Kohli, along with weightlifting sensation Mirabai Chanu, have both been recommended for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award. This is the highest sporting honour in India, which have already been conferred on former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, as well as World Cup winning captain MS Dhoni. If the sports ministry does accept the committee’s recommendation, Kohli will become the third cricketer to receive this prestigious award.

The 29-year-old is currently the no.1 Test batsman in the world and has been in exceptional form in all forms of the game. He is only a couple of hundred runs away from reaching 10,000 ODI runs while having recently crossed 6000 runs in Test cricket. Kohli has also been in fine form for Team India, having amassed close to 600 runs in the recently concluded Test series against England. He also led India to limited-overs series victories against South Africa and England.

Will Kohli finally get the Khel Ratna?

This is Kohli’s third nomination for the Khel Ratna. However, in 2016, the award was handed out to Sakshi Malik, PV Sindhu and Deepa Karmakar for their performances in the Rio Olympics. He also missed out in 2017, as Indian Hockey Team captain Sardar Singh and para-athlete Devendra Jhajharia beat him in the race. But Virat already has the prestigious Padma Shri conferred upon him.

His accolades in the cricketing world are many. He has bagged the ICC’s ‘ODI Cricketer of the Year’ award in 2012 and 2017 along with the sport’s highest honour — the ICC Cricketer of the Year. Kohli has also been adjudged the Indian Cricketer of the Year on five occasions. The Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack has also voted him as the Wisden Cricketer of the Year, and he has also featured on the cover of the Almanack – both huge honours in the sport.

Meanwhile, for Mirabai Chanu, the award could come as a massive boost to her morale. Chanu is currently recovering from a lower-back injury due to which she was forced to skip the Asian Games in Jakarta. However, she is one of India’s biggest medal hopes in weightlifting as the nation prepares for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

[interaction id=”5b8f8a27d6d3b0dd1ae74b02″]

For more news and developments, stay tuned on CricTracker.com.