The Arjuna Award is given in recognition of outstanding achievements in Sports and Games, serving as a prominent sports honour in India. The award is named after the Mahabharata character Arjuna. The award is an annual honour presented by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. It stands as the second-highest sporting accolade in India, after the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna. The personality who receives the award is chosen by a committee formed by the Ministry.
Also, the recipients of the Arjuna Award are recognized for outstanding international sports performance over four years, demonstrating commendable qualities such as leadership, sportsmanship, and discipline. The award comprises a bronze Arjuna statuette, an official certificate, ceremonial attire, and a monetary prize of? 15 lakh.
The award was introduced to honour exceptional athletes in the nation from the year 1961. Over time, there have been various changes in the award criteria. The latest revision in 2018 specifies that the award is conferred only in disciplines included in events such as the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, World Championship, and World Cup, and also covers Cricket, Indigenous Games, and Parasports. The inaugural recipient was former Indian all-rounder Salim Durani in 1961, while Shantha Rangaswamy made history in 1976 as the first female cricketer to receive this prestigious honour.
Now, let’s look at the list of cricketers who have been recipients of the Arjuna Award over the years in recognition of their outstanding contributions at the international level;
Arjuna Award for Cricket: Look at the Full List
Year | Winner | Gender |
1961 | Salim Durani | Male |
1964 | Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi | Male |
1965 | Vijay Manjrekar | Male |
1966 | Chandu Borde | Male |
1967 | Ajit Wadekar | Male |
1968 | E. A. S. Prasanna | Male |
1969 | Bishan Singh Bedi | Male |
1970 | Dilip Sardesai | Male |
1971 | Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan | Male |
1972 | B. S. Chandrashekhar | Male |
1972 | Eknath Solkar | Male |
1975 | Sunil Gavaskar | Male |
1976 | Shantha Rangaswamy | Female |
1977–1978 | Gundappa Viswanath | Male |
1979–1980 | Kapil Dev | Male |
1980–1981 | Chetan Chauhan | Male |
1980–1981 | Syed Kirmani | Male |
1981 | Dilip Vengsarkar | Male |
1982 | Mohinder Amarnath | Male |
1983 | Diana Edulji | Female |
1984 | Ravi Shastri | Male |
1985 | Shubhangi Kulkarni | Female |
1986 | Sandhya Agarwal | Female |
1986 | Mohammad Azharuddin | Male |
1989 | Madan Lal | Male |
1993 | Kiran More | Male |
1993 | Manoj Prabhakar | Male |
1994 | Sachin Tendulkar | Male |
1995 | Anil Kumble | Male |
1996 | Javagal Srinath | Male |
1997 | Sourav Ganguly | Male |
1997 | Ajay Jadeja | Male |
1998 | Rahul Dravid | Male |
1998 | Nayan Mongia | Male |
2000 | Venkatesh Prasad | Male |
2001 | VVS Laxman | Male |
2002 | Virender Sehwag | Male |
2003 | Mithali Raj | Female |
2003 | Harbhajan Singh | Male |
2005 | Anju Jain | Female |
2006 | Anjum Chopra | Female |
2009 | Gautam Gambhir | Male |
2010 | Jhulan Goswami | Female |
2011 | Zaheer Khan | Male |
2012 | Yuvraj Singh | Male |
2013 | Virat Kohli | Male |
2014 | Ravichandran Ashwin | Male |
2015 | Rohit Sharma | Male |
2016 | Ajinkya Rahane | Male |
2017 | Harmanpreet Kaur | Female |
2017 | Cheteshwar Pujara | Male |
2018 | Smriti Mandhana | Female |
2019 | Ravindra Jadeja | Male |
2019 | Poonam Yadav | Female |
2020 | Deepti Sharma | Female |
2020 | Ishant Sharma | Male |
2021 | Shikhar Dhawan | Male |