Indian women cricketer Mithali Raj will be awarded the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award, a government official said today. She was among those cricketers who were recommended by the Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI) in June earlier this year.
She is one of the only female Indian cricketers to have a long-lasting career of 22 years and still counting. Besides she a cricketing ideal for all the young Indian aspiring women cricketers in India. She made her International debut for Indian on June 26, 1999.
Congratulations Mithali on being conferred with the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award. Really proud of you. This is a major achievement for women's cricket and will take the game to greater heights. @M_Raj03 pic.twitter.com/U5iL6sMrXl
— Jhulan Goswami (@JhulanG10) October 27, 2021
Only Sachin Tendulkar has a longer career of 22 years 91 days than her across men’s and women’s cricket in the world at the moment. No other cricket player has been active in the international circuit for 22 and more years. Mithali Raj has so far represented India in 11 Tests, 215 ODIs and 89 T20Is in her career so far. Mithali Raj has scored a combined of 10,203 runs across formats including eight centuries and 77 half-centuries which is exceptional.
Moreover, the BCCI had recommended a few Indian cricketers for the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award including Mithali Raj Ravichandran Ashwin and Shikhar Dhawan as well. Mithali Raj will be awarded the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award besides Shikhar Dhawan will be awarded with the Arjuna Award.
“We had a detailed discussion and it was decided to send in the names of Ashwin and women’s Test and ODI skipper’s name for the Khel Ratna. We are recommending Dhawan again for the Arjuna while we will also suggest the names of Rahul and Bumrah,” news agency ANI quoted a source as saying.
Khel Ratna award is known as India’s highest sporting honour and in the last year 2020, for the first time in history, five athletes including Rohit Sharma, Manika Batra, Vinesh Phogat, Rani Rampal and Mariyappan Phangavelue received this very award proudly.
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