Former India opener Gautam Gambhir received his Padma Shri Award from President Ram Nath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Saturday (March 16). It is the fourth-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, behind Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan.

After receiving this esteemed honour, Gambhir took to Twitter and thanked both his supporters and critics.

"This is for all the supporters of Indian cricket and my critics. Both have played a part in my journey...some day will discuss who played more than the other," he tweeted.

Besides Gambhir, Sunil Chhetri (football), Bombayla Devi (archer) and Prashanti Singh (basketball) also received this honour from President Kovind on the same day.

Eight sportspersons were bestowed with the Padma Shri award in January 2019. Notably, Sharath Kamal (table tennis), Bajrang Punia (wrestler), Harika Dronavalli (chess), Bombayla Devi (archer) and Ajay Thakur (kabaddi) had received their awards on Monday in a separate ceremony.

Gambhir, who made his international debut way back in 2003, has scored more than 10,000 international runs for India. The southpaw is particularly known for his credentials in two of India’s most treasured ICC triumphs – 2007 ICC World T20 and 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. He was the highest run-scorer for India in the final of both the ICC events and it was those two knocks (75 in WT20 and 97 in CWC) that paved the way for India’s momentous world cup glory.

In a career spanning over a decade, Gambhir scored 4154 Test runs for India in 58 matches at an average of 41.95, including 9 centuries and 22 fifties. He also proved his mettle in the limited-overs format, scoring 5238 ODI runs in 147 games and 932 T20I runs in 37 matches. The left-hander boasts 11 one-day international tons to his name besides scoring 34 ODI fifties and 7 T20I fifties.

In 2009 Gambhir was named as the ‘ICC Test Player of the Year’ for his spectacular performances throughout the year.