Ravichandran Ashwin, who recently retired from international cricket, has been awarded India’s fourth-highest civilian honour- The Padma Shri.
The Government of India released the list of all the Padma awardees on January 25, and Ashwin was the only cricketer on the list. However, many other sports personalities in India have been named in the awards list, including hockey goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, who has been honoured with a Padma Bhushan.
Overall, the President of India approved 139 Padma awards, including seven Padma Vibhushan, 19 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri.
Earlier, in a shocking move, Ashwin, one of India’s greatest match-winners, had abruptly pulled the curtains on his international career during the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT). After not getting the chance in Perth, Ashwin was picked for the Adelaide Test, where he didn't have many opportunities to have a say in the clash.
Ashwin has 537 Test wickets at an average of 24.00 and ended his career after having an unsatisfactory series against New Zealand at home.
He is India’s second-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket and has a career so decorated that India didn’t lose a single series at home between 2012 and 2024. The streak ended against New Zealand, but that was perhaps the first series in which Ashwin failed to deliver at home.
On top of having a stellar bowling record, Ashwin has scored 3503 runs in the longest format of the game, with six centuries and 14 half-centuries.
Sachin Tendulkar is the only Indian cricketer to have been awarded the Bharat Ratna, which is India’s highest civilian honour. Meanwhile, many Indian cricketers including Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni have been honoured with the Padma Awards.