The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday (August 21) congratulated limited-overs deputy Rohit Sharma on being bestowed with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award – India's highest sporting honour.

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Rohit is among the 5 athletes who will receive this prestigious award for 2020. He is only the fourth cricketer after Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli to be conferred with 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!" BCCI tweeted.

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports unveiled the list of winners for Khel Ratna, Arjuna and other sports awards on Friday.

Apart from Rohit, pacer Ishant Sharma and women cricketer Deepti Sharma will be receiving the Arjuna Award this year.

BCCI also posted separate tweets to congratulate Ishant and Deepti.

The other four recipients of Khel Ratna award include Asian Games gold medalist Vinesh Phogat, table tennis champion Manika Batra, India hockey women's captain Rani Rampal and Paralympic gold medalist Mariappan Thangavelu.

Besides Ishant and Deepti, 25 more athletes will be conferred with the Arjuna Award this year.

The ceremony will be conducted virtually with President Ramnath Kovind giving away the awards on August 29.