Former India cricket captain MS Dhoni was conferred with the Padma Bhushan, the country’s third-highest civilian award, on Monday.
As his name was announced, Dhoni marched past the dignitaries present at the Rashtrapati Bhavan before receiving the honour from President Ram Nath Kovind.
A lot like his batting in his heydays, Dhoni looked pretty much at ease as he walked towards the dais wearing the army uniform.
The 37-year-old Dhoni is the second Indian cricketer after Kapil Dev to receive this honour.
On this day in 2011, India won the World Cup final against Sri Lanka. With 10 balls to go at the Wankhede Stadium, the then-captain Dhoni ended India’s 28-year wait with a massive six.
Dhoni has previously been the recipient of several awards, including the ICC ODI Player of the Year in 2008 and 2009 (he became the first player to win the award twice), the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 2007 and the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian honour, in 2009.
#WATCH Billiards player Pankaj Advani and Cricketer MS Dhoni conferred with Padma Bhushan by President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhawan in Delhi pic.twitter.com/XgPTHWsxBl — ANI (@ANI) April 2, 2018
#WATCH Billiards player Pankaj Advani and Cricketer MS Dhoni conferred with Padma Bhushan by President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhawan in Delhi pic.twitter.com/XgPTHWsxBl
— ANI (@ANI) April 2, 2018
Considered the country’s most successful captain, Dhoni led India to three ICC world events – the 2007 World T20, the 2011 World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy. Under his captaincy, India also climbed to the No. 1 spot on the ICC Test Rankings in December 2009.
Dhoni had relinquished Test captaincy when he retired from the format in December 2014 in Australia. In the shorter formats, he gave up the captaincy a little over a year ago before the home series against England. He has been playing both formats as a wicketkeeper-batsman since then.
