India’s cricket captain Virat Kohli could well become the third cricketer to get the country’s highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.
According to a PTI report, the awards committee has jointly recommended the names of Kohli and world champion weightlifter Mirabai Chanu for this esteemed honour. Previously, Sachin Tendulkar (1997) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (2007) had won the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.
Cricketer Virat Kohli and weightlifter Mirabai Chanu have been recommended for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award: Khel Ratna, Arjuna Award committee sources pic.twitter.com/SSlDHjlY4I
— ANI (@ANI) September 17, 2018
Kohli currently leads the ICC rankings for batsmen in Test and ODIs. He was in phenomenal form during the recently concluded Test series in England, scoring over 500 runs in five matches.
During the England tour, Virat also went past the 6000-run mark in Test cricket and now has 23 centuries to his name in the traditional format. A run machine in one-day internationals, Kohli has 9779 runs to his name along with 35 centuries.
On the other hand, Mirabai Chanu was recommended for the prestigious award following her gold medal in 48kg category at the World Championships last year.
(With PTI inputs)