M S Dhoni awarded Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna

New Delhi: India's One-day and Twenty20 cricket captain MS Dhoni will be awarded the country's highest sporting honour — the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.

Dhoni becomes only the second cricketer after Sachin Tendulkar to be given the honour. Tendulkar won the award in 1997-98.

Dhoni led India's ... ...team to a memorable win at the World Cup in South Africa, and followed it up by leading a young team to victory in the One-day tri-series in Australia.

There had been speculation that the BCCI hadn't sent Dhoni's form in time but that issue was resolved.

Twenty-seven-year-old Dhoni took over as India's One-day captain after Rahul Dravid resigned in 2007.

Among other prominent sportspersons to have won the honour are Vishwanathan Anand (chess), Leander Paes (tennis), Geet Sethi (billiards), Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (shooting) and Dhanraj Pillay (hockey).

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