Virat Kohli Along With Mira Bai Chanu Become Khel Ratan; Mandhana Wins Arjun Award

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The government of India has honored Indian Men's Cricket Team captain Virat Kohli with India's most prestigious sporting honor Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratan while Women's T20I vice-captain Smriti Mandhana received Arjun Award. The awards were given by President Ramnath Kovind on Tuesday, 25 September.

Virat Kohli is the only third cricketer to be received India's top sporting award. Weightlifter Mira Bai Chanu also honored with Khel Ratan with Indian skipper. Mandhana is the only 10th woman cricketer to win Arjun Award. Harmanpreet Kaur was the last woman cricketer to awarded with Arjun Award in 2017.



Virat Kohli has been in imperious form in last few years. He was the ICC Cricketer of the year 2017 and also swept most of the BCCI award this year. The No.1 Test and ODI batsman show excellent runs in South Africa and England this year across all formats. He was the top scorer in SA and England in Test series'.

"The Khel Ratna award is yet another feather in Virat Kohli's cap. He was named the ICC Player of the Year in 2017, he swept the BCCI awards and has now been conferred with the highest sporting award, which is truly a remarkable feat. His hunger for runs is insatiable and I am sure under his leadership, the Indian team will be a top-ranked side in all three formats," BCCI acting honorary secretary, Amitabh Choudhary, said.

"We are extremely proud that Virat Kohli and Smriti Mandhana are being conferred with top honors by the Government of India. Virat is just the third Indian cricketer to receive the prestigious Khel Ratna award. This is a testimony to his work ethic, dedication, and unwavering focus. He has led India with distinction and at the same time, set new records with the bat. Playing different formats of the game, Virat has shown amazing consistency leading the side by example. This Indian team is one of the fittest sides in world cricket and a lot of credit must go to the Indian captain for bringing about this transformation," Vinod Rai, Chairman of the Committee of Administrators, said.



On the other hand, Mandhana has been India's best player since World Cup 2017. Since World Cup, she is India's leading run-getter in both T20Is and ODIs. After her remarkable run, she named a deputy to Harmanpreet in T20I. In recently concluded England's Women Kia Super League, she topped the charts with 421 runs and a blitzing strike rate of 175. She is only Indian player to win player of the tournament award in the history of WKSL and WBBL (Women's Big Bash League).

Talking about Virat Kohli, it was yet another feather in his cap. The 29-year old is the first cricketer since Mahendra Singh Dhoni (2007) to be honored with this most respectable sporting award. The great Sachin Tendulkar was the first cricketer to receive this honor in 1997.

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