Watch: Mithali Raj gets conferred with the prestigious Khel Ratna Award

Mithali Raj conferred with Khel Ratna by President Ram Nath Kovind [Image- Screengrab]

Indian women's cricket Test and ODI skipper Mithali Raj added yet another jewel to her crown on Saturday. She became the first female cricketer to be conferred with the prestigious Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.

The Khel Ratna award is the highest sporting honor in the country conferred on athletes. It is a mark of recognition towards consistent performances displayed by them in their field over the course of the previous four years.

The ceremony took place in Rashtrapati Bhawan on Saturday where President Ram Nath Kovind presented the award to a whole host of sports superstars. The list included Olympic gold medalist Neeraj Chopra, wrestler Ravi Kumar, para shooter Avani Lekhara, football captain Sunil Chhetri and Mithali among 12 others.

Watch the video here-

India Test and ODI captain Mithali Raj receives the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award, the country's highest sporting honour, from Ram Nath Kovind, the President of India

Raj becomes the first female cricketer to be conferred with the Khel Ratna Award
https://t.co/r34CCDl12c

Raj joined Sachin Tendulkar (1998), MS Dhoni (2007), Virat Kohli (2018) and Rohit Sharma (2020) to be bestowed with such an honor.

She had already been conferred with the prestigious Padma Shri in 2015.

Mithali Raj - the torchbearer of Indian women's cricket

Women's cricket in India has grown by leaps and bounds in the past two decades. Mithali Raj has played a major role in the revolution courtesy of her stellar performances across all formats for Team India.

Raj made her debut as a teenager back in 1999. She is one of the few cricketers who have represented their country for such a long period of time at the elite level.

Truly honoured and grateful to receive the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award 🙏 https://t.co/79HZOV9Uox

As skipper, her finest moments came in 2005 and then in 2017. She led the Women in Blue to the finals of the 50-over World Cup then.

As a batter, Raj has almost every record in her kitty. She has scored the most runs in ODI cricket (7391), and has scored the most runs in an innings (by batting position) in women's Tests (2014).

Raj is the most capped women's cricketer in ODI cricket. She is still the youngest player to score an ODI hundred (16 years and 205 days).

Mithali Raj becomes the first female cricketer to win the Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.

Joins the elite club of Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

The champion middle-order batter also holds the record of being the youngest double centurion in women's Test (19 years and 254 days). She has also captained India in a record 143 ODIs.

Mithali is nearing the end of his career and she'd hope to cap it off with an elusive World Cup title next year in New Zealand.