Virat Kohli expresses joy of receiving the prestigious Padma Shri award on Twitter

Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli, who, apart from the Border Gavaskar Trophy has been in the career-best form of his life in India’s recently concluded long home-run, was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri award earlier today by the President of India Dr Pranab Mukherjee at a high-profile ceremony in Delhi’s Rashtrapati Bhavan.

A total of eight recipients from the Indian sports community were awarded the highest civilian award. The other names prominent names include Hockey captain P R Sreejesh,  Rio Olympic heroes, gymnast Dipa Karmakar and wrestler Sakshi Mallick, discus thrower Vikas Gowda, Rio Paralympics medallists Mariyappan Thangavelu and Deepa Malik, and blind cricket team captain Shekhar Naik.

The Indian captain was overwhelmed on receiving an award of such dignity, and thus took to Twitter to express his joy.

The 28-year old posted a video Pranab Mukherjee handing over the award to him, along with a caption that read, “What an absolute honor and a memorable day to receive the Padma Shri award from the President of India. God’s been kind. Jai Hind

What an absolute honor and a memorable day to receive the Padma Shri award from the President of India. God's been kind. ???
Jai Hind ?? pic.twitter.com/zh3EUkrTFl

— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) March 30, 2017

On the eve of January 26, India’s Republic Day, the government of India announced 89 Padma Awardees. There were no sportspersons in the list of Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan awardees.

The award has come at a time when Virat has been criticized and mocked by not only the media Down Under but also former cricket veterans. And the prestigious Padma Shri has come as a befitting reply to all the criticism on behalf of the Indian captain, who led India to 10 wins out of 13 games in the long home season.

Kohli’s next assignment will be the 10^th season of the Indian Premier League, where he will lead the runners-up Royal Challengers Bangalore. However, reports suggest that Kohli’s shoulder injury from Ranchi may keep the captain waiting at the bench for the first few IPL games.