Virat Kohli receives Padma Shri: Cricket fraternity lauds Indian skipper for prestigious award

New Delhi: Indian skipper Virat Kohli on Thursday added another feather to his cap when he received the prestigious Padma Shri award from Indian President Pranab Mukherjee.

Kohli, who was in incredible form in 2016-17 season, was conferred with the award for the valuable contribution to Indian cricket during that period.

The Delhi batsman took to Twitter yesterday to tweet, "What an absolute honor and a memorable day to receive the Padma Shri award from the President of India. God's been kind. Jai Hind."

What an absolute honor and a memorable day to receive the Padma Shri award from the President of India. God's been kind.
Jai Hind pic.twitter.com/zh3EUkrTFl — Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) March 30, 2017

Cricket fraternity was full of praise for Kohli.

Here are some of the tweets:

BCCI: "Congratulations, Skipper."

Congratulations, Skipper https://t.co/M9bgakQ8jx — BCCI (@BCCI) March 30, 2017

Harbhajan Singh: "Welcome to the club.. congratulations @imVkohli for getting Padma Shri award.. wish you lots of awards and success! God bless you brother."

Welcome to the club.. congratulations @imVkohli for getting Padma Shri award.. wish you lots of awards and success! God bless you brother — Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) March 30, 2017

Ravichandran Ashwin: "Congratulations @imVkohli , massive massive achievement. Now we have a Padmashri in our midst. More power to you."

Congratulations @imVkohli , massive massive achievement. Now we have a Padmashri in our midst. More power to you. — Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) March 31, 2017

Lokesh Rahul: "Congratulations bru @imVkohli for getting the Padma Shri you are a true inspiration to me and cricketers around the world."

Congratulations bru @imVkohli for getting the Padma Shri you are a true inspiration to me and cricketers around the world. — K L Rahul (@klrahul11) March 31, 2017

Apart from Virat Kohli, Paralympian Deepa Malik and hockey captain PR Sreejesh were honoured with the Padma Shri.

Besides Kohli, Sreejesh and Deepa, five other sportspersons were named for the prestigious award when the honours list was declared on the Republic Day on January 26.

The list included Rio Olympics bronze medallist wrestler Sakshi Malik, gymnast Dipa Karmakar, Paralympian Mariyappan Thangavelu, discus thrower Vikas Gowda and blind cricket team captain Shekhar Naik.