A notch above others: Standout Indian athletes of the decade

If there is one man to go down in the Indian football history legend book after Bhaichung Bhutia, it is Sunil Chhetri, who remained a notch above the standard of Indian football. Chhetri, who has 53 goals from 82 matches for India during this decade, refused to slow down despite touching 35, perhaps playing his best football in the last couple of years. Chhetri also went past Argentine wizard Lionel Messi (70 goals) in the international goal-scoring charts among active players and is second behind Portugal superstar Cristiano Ronaldo (99). (Source: PTI)

Even though age caught up with Sushil Kumar in the second half of the decade, he dominated the first five years by becoming the first Indian to win two individual medals at the Olympics in 2012. He also gave India its first world champion in wrestling when he won the 66kg title in Moscow in 2010. The Haryana wrestler won gold in all the three editions of Commonwealth Games in this decade, besides winning gold at the Asian Championships and Commonwealth Championships. (Source: File)

Yogeshwar Dutt became the face of wrestling when he won the bronze medal at London Olympics in 2012. Yogeshwar added to his legacy by winning an Asian Games gold, two Commonwealth golds and two Asian Championships gold in this decade. (Source: PTI)

Bajrang Punia emerged in the picture in 2013 and since then has won three World Championships medals, two podium finishes in Asian Games and Commonwealth Games including a gold medal in both the respective tournaments. (Source: File)

Born into the famous Phogat family, Vinesh has stepped out of the shadow of her cousins to make a name for herself. Cousin of Commonwealth champions Geeta and Babita, Vinesh won her maiden World Championships medal in 2019. Vinesh has also won two gold medals for India at Commonwealth Games, two medals at Asian Games including a gold and six medals at Asian Championships. She was stretchered off after suffering a knee dislocation during her quarterfinal bout at the 2016 Rio Olympics but has risen again to become one of India's biggest medal hopes in the 2020 Tokyo Games. (Source: AP)

Saina Nehwal became a household name when she became the first shuttler to win an Olympic medal - a bronze - in 2012 London Games. Saina has in her kitty a total of nine Superseries titles since 2010 and reached a career-high of World No. 1 this decade. (Source: AP)

Mary Kom's perfect story continues despite her being at the top for almost two decades now. Her journey  to the top began with gold at the inaugural World Championships for women in 2002, adding seven more to the list (six golds, one silver, one bronze) which are the most by any boxer (male or female) at the tournament. She also won a bronze at London Olympics, the first time that women's boxing was a part of the Games, and has two Asian Games and a Commonwealth Games gold in her kitty. (Source: Tashi Tobgyal)

Virat Kohli has emerged as the most powerful name in cricket-loving India this decade. Not only did the Indian cricket captain finish the decade as top ODI run-scorer but also reached the milestone with 5,775 more international runs than anyone else in the last 10 years. Even though he made his international debut in 2008, it was only in this decade that he emerged as the biggest name in cricket. He amassed a total of 20,964 runs in this decade and is the only batsman in the history of the sport to average over 50 in all three formats. (Source: AP)

It is hard to miss a cricket captain who is among the most loved sports personalities in the country and who brought the World Cup back to India. The two ICC trophies that India have won in this decade came during Dhoni's captaincy. In 2011, he led India to their first-ever World Cup triumph since 1983 and in 2013, India dominated the Champions Trophy in England. The 38-year-old effected 242 dismissals ( between 2010-2019) in 196 matches that included 170 catches and 72 stumpings, the most by any ‘keeper in ODIs. He retired from Test cricket in 2014 and relinquished captaincy in limited-overs cricket in 2017. He, however, has remained the undisputed leader of his Indian Premier League (IPL) side Chennai Super Kings. (Source: Reuters)

Leading India in Kohli's absence, Rohit Sharma has made a name for himself and here are his top achievements of the decade: 3 double hundreds in ODIs: 3 more than Kohli 4 hundreds in T20Is: 4 more than Kohli 410 - Most international sixes by an Indian: 198 more than Kohli 6 - Joint-most hundreds in Cricket World Cup history: 4 more than Kohli 5 IPL winners medals: 5 more than Kohli (Source: AP)

Mithali Raj, who is the first female player to last more than 20 years in international cricket, made her ODI debut against Ireland on June 26, 1999. The right-handed batswoman has played 204 ODIs till now, the most by a female, followed by England's Charlotte Edwards (191), Jhulan Goswami (178), Alex Blackwell (144) of Australia. Mithali, 36, has also played 10 Tests and 89 T20Is for India. (Source: AP)

Vishwanathan Anand has been the face of Indian chess for over four decades now. Even though this year hasn't been his brightest, the 50-year old continued to make headlines and that includes his defence of the world crown in 2012 and winning the 2017 world rapid chess championship. (Source: FIDE.com)

Sania Mirza became India's tennis icon of the decade as she dominated the doubles circuit. She won six Grand Slams to become the best-ever women's tennis player from India. In her book of achievements of the decade, she has Wimbledon 2015, US Open, Australian Open women's doubles title with Martina Hingis along with French Open second place in 2011. The 33-year old also has five podium finishes in this decade in mixed doubles including French Open title with Mahesh Bhupuathi in 2012 and US Open title with Bruno Soares in 2014. (Source: AP)