BCCI Congratulates Rohit Sharma For Becoming 4th Indian Cricketer To Be Conferred With Rajiv Gandhi 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.

India's Rohit Sharma celebrates making his century during the 2019 Cricket World Cup group stage match between Bangladesh and India at Edgbaston in Birmingham, central England, on July 2, 2019. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP)/Getty

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday congratulated India's limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma for becoming the fourth Indian batsman to be conferred with the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the country's highest sports award. Rohit is among the five world class sports-persons to receive the Khel Ratna award in 2020. "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.

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! pic.twitter.com/ErHJtBQoj9 — BCCI (@BCCI) August 21, 2020

Rohit Sharma joined an elite list of cricketers who have been conferred with the award over the years. The select club includes iconic cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar who won the prestigious award in 1998, Mahendra Singh Dhoni in 2007 and Indian team captain Virat Kohli (2018) in the elite list. Besides Rohit Sharma, India's ace female paddler Manika Batra, Rio Paralympic gold-winning high jumper Mariappan Thangavelu, women's hockey captain Rani Rampal and 2018 Asian Games gold medalist wrestler Vinesh Phogat will also receive the Khel Ratna Award. Rohit Sharma teammate and India's seasoned seam bowler Ishant Sharma and women cricketer Deepti Sharma will be honoured with the Arjuna Award. BCCI congratulated both Ishant and Deepti in separate tweets.

Congratulations to our senior most Test bowler @ImIshant for winning the prestigious Arjuna Award for 2020. Keep going, champ! pic.twitter.com/WyHjMsOYBG

— BCCI (@BCCI) August 21, 2020

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. The final five athletes shorlisted for the Khel Ratna award 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. It will be for the very first time in the history of National Sports awards that 5 sportspersons will be receiving Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award and 27 athletes will be conferred with Arjuna Award. The ceremony will be conducted virtually with President Ramnath Kovind giving away the awards on Aug 29.