Rohit Sharma Conferred With Padma Shri for Outstanding Contribution to Indian Cricket

Indian legend, and former skipper of the men's cricket team, Rohit Sharma has been honoured with one of the most prestigious awards of his life, the coveted Padma Shri in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Indian cricket over the past decades. 

The Honourable President of India, Droupadi Murmu conferred the Padma Awards 2026 at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Tuesday evening. Under the brilliant captaincy of Sharma, India won several global tournaments, including the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in the West Indies and the Champions Trophy 2025 in Dubai. 

A prolific opening batter in all formats of the game, he is considered as one of the most destructive ODI players ever. In his illustrious career, he amassed more than 11,700 runs in 285 ODIs, scoring at an average of 48.83 and a strike rate of 92.97. He also holds several world records to his name, including the highest individual score by an individual in an ODI international. He scored 264 runs against Sri Lanka. He is also the only batter in the history of the game to score three double centuries in ODIs. 

His records in test matches too is commendable. Having made his debut for India in the red ball format in 2013, he represented India in 67 tests, scoring 4031 runs, which includes 12 centuries, 18 half centuries and a career best score of 212 against the proteas in 2019. 

Sharma made his T20I debut in 2007 and scored 4231 runs in 159 games and he remains one of the few Indian players to have won two T20 World Cup, the first in 2007 and the second in 2024 where he was also the captain of the team. 

In 2024, Rohit Sharma became the first player in Men’s cricket to feature in more than 150 T20Is. In the same year, he announced his retirement from the format after India won the T20 World Cup.