Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award in Cricket

The Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award is the highest sporting honour in games and sports of the republic of India. It is very proud moment for player to receive Khel Ratna Award for his excellence in his field. A total of 38 sportsmen have received the Khel Ratna Award till now. Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award was previously known as Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award. It was renamed in year 2021.

Cricketers who have won Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award in Cricket

Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar was the first cricketer to receive Khel Ratna Award. He was awarded Khel Ratna in year 1997/98 for his performance in international cricket. Sachin Tendulkar is the only batsman in international cricket to have 100 centuries.  He even won the Bharat Ratna Award later for his brilliancy and for what he did for India in cricket.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

MS Dhoni was the second cricketer who got honoured by Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. He was awarded in year 2007/08 for his brilliant performance with the bat and his cool and calm captaincy. MS Dhoni led Indian team to triumph the 2007 T20 World Cup. Later he also achieved ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and ICC Champions Trophy 2013 for Indian cricket team. What he has achieved as captain is absolutely remarkable. He is the only captain who has won all 3 ICC tournaments.

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli was the third cricketer to receive RG Khel Ratna Award. He was honoured in year 2018 for his brilliant batting in international cricket. He is the current captain of Indian cricket team and he has also become ICC Cricketer of the year in 2017 and 2018. He is also known as Run-Machine. He is at 3^rd position in the list of cricketers with most centuries. The team reached to semi finals in his captaincy in 2019 Cricket World Cup.

Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma is the recent and 4^th Indian cricketer who has received Khel Ratna Award. He is shortlisted for Khel Ratna in year 2020. He is one of the best batsmen in the world right now. He was ICC Cricketer of the year in 2019. He is the only player to hit 3 double tons in ODI Cricket. He has scored 5 centuries in 2019 World Cup and was the highest run-scorer in the 2019 Cricket World Cup. He is the only batsman in the world cricket to score 5 centuries in single Cricket World Cup. He has also made centuries in each format of the game. He is also known as Hit-Man Sharma.

Khel Ratna Award List in Cricket