Whether it is Archery, Football, Cricket or our most successful Olympic sport, Hockey, Jharkhand players have made their mark at national as well as the international level. Here we list four of the most prolific players, the state or for that matter our country has witnessed reach the highest heights of success.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Mahi is unarguably the most successful Indian cricket captain. Under him, the Indian cricket reached new heights. His leadership brought India the title of the Inaugural World T20(2007), four years later, India won the ICC Cricket World Cup. The only second cricketer to be honoured with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, Dhoni has also been conferred with Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.
Besides being the Vice President of India Cements, Dhoni is currently the co-owner of Indian Super League team Chennaiyin FC.
Deepika Kumari
The former world number one archer is one of the most celebrated champions of the state. She has won medals all over the world, 3 World Cup golds, 2 Commonwealth Golds and one Asian Games bronze tops that tally. She added the prestigious Arjuna Award and Padma Shri to her stack of trophies.
FICCI also honoured her with the Sportsperson of the Year Award(2014).
Premlata Agrawal
Premlata Agrawal, the first Indian woman to scale the Seven Summits, belongs to Jharkhand. On May 2011, Premlata became the oldest Indian woman(the record was broken 7 years later by Saneeta Sindhi Bahl) to have scaled the Mount Everest, world’s tallest peak. She is the recipient of Padma Shri, Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award for her achievements in Mountaineering.
Seven Summits are the highest mountains of each of the seven continents. There are several versions of “Seven Summits”.
Varun Aaron
The pacy Jamshedpur boy made his mark in the domestic cricket with his raw bowling speed, clocking into 145 km/h, he became one of the fastest bowlers in India. Currently a part of the Kings XI Punjab and Leicestershire’s squad, the pacer was noted by the MRF Pace Foundation, Chennai. Injuries have limped Aaron’s career, again and again, time would tell if he ever makes a comeback.
Nevertheless, with his sheer speed, he became the second cricketer after Mahi to ignite the spirit of cricket among the youths of Jharkhand.
