Former India spearhead Ravichandran Ashwin received the prestigious Padma Shri award as he joined cricket icons Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid who received the honor in the past.
The Padma awards – one of the country's highest civilian honors – are conferred on the eve of Republic Day. Padma awards are given in three categories: Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.
Before Ravichandran Ashwin, a number of cricketers have received the prestigious Padma Shri Award. Some of the former cricketers who have won the award are Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Mohammad Azharuddin, MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam GambhirSunil Gavaskar, Sourav Ganguly, Virat Kohli and Anil Kumble.
Cricketer R Ashwin awarded a Padma Shri
— Aman Sharma (@AmanKayamHai_) JanuaRy 25, 2025
Read also: Watch: Jamie Overton looks unrecognizable as Varun Chakravarthy rattles his stumps with a jaffa
Ravichandran Ashwin's International Career in Figures:
Ravichandran Ashwin brought down the curtains on his illustrious international career after the Brisbane Test against Australia last month. The spinner decided to retire from international cricket after the conclusion of the third Test of the five-match series.
He retired from international cricket as one of India's most successful Test bowlers. The 38-year-old ended his career as the seventh highest run-getter in Test history. Among Indians, only Anil Kumble has more wickets than Ravichandran Ashwin in the longest format of the game.
He represented India in 106 Tests and collected 537 wickets. He made a big impact with the bat as well, scoring 3503 runs with six hundreds and 14 fifties. Widely regarded as one of India's greatest match-winners, Ashwin claimed a record 11 man-of-the-series awards, level with Muttiah Muralitharan.
Ravichandran Ashwin, who debuted for the Indian team in 2010, has represented the national team in both the white-ball formats as well. He was part of the Indian team that won the World Cup in 2011 and qualified for the finals in 2023.
He played a total of 116 ODIs and took 156 wickets at an average of 33.20. In T20Is, Ashwin played 65 games and took 72 wickets. While Ashwin has retired from international cricket, he will continue to ply his trade with the IPL. In the IPL 2025 mega auction, he was signed up by his first IPL team, Chennai Super Kings.
Read also: Watch: Jofra Archer left in disgust as Brydon Carse is exhausted after horrific mess