Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli on Tuesday was conferred with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award by the President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Taking it to Twitter, the official handle of President of India wrote, “#PresidentKovind confers the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award 2018 upon Shri Virat Kohli in recognition of his outstanding achievements in Cricket •Captain of India Cricket team. Player of tournament in ICC World T20-2016 •23 Centuries and 19 Half Centuries in Test Cricket.”
#PresidentKovind confers the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award 2018 upon Shri Virat Kohli in recognition of his outstanding achievements in Cricket
•Captain of India Cricket team. Player of tournament in ICC World T20-2016
•23 Centuries and 19 Half Centuries in Test Cricket pic.twitter.com/xYg7I3kHzS
— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) September 25, 2018
In a reply, Kohli wrote, “Humbled to have received the Khel Ratna from our Honourable President. 🙌🏻 🇮🇳 #JaiHind.”
Humbled to have received the Khel Ratna from our Honourable President. 🙌🏻 🇮🇳 #JaiHind https://t.co/w7tDaNVe8V
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) September 25, 2018
Kohli has now become the third Indian cricketer, after Sachin Tendulkar (1997) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (2007), to receive the prestigious award.
The right-hand batsman recently displayed a rich vein of form during the five-match Test series against England. Kohli scored a total of 593 runs in the series with an impressive average of 118.6.
Kohli has scored overall 9779 runs in 211 ODI matches with an impressive average of 58.21. While in Tests, he has scored 6147 runs in 71 matches.
