The prestigious Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) housed at the iconic Lord's cricket ground, on Wednesday, gave 'Life Membership' to World Cup-winning captain India’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni along with four other distinguished India internationals.
Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, former women's national captain Mithali Raj and the legendary Jhulan Goswami were the others who were made life members.
The MCC named 19 new honorary life members who represented eight Test-playing countries.
The club's cricket committee considers the nomination of players for life membership as recognition to the 'outstanding international careers for some of the greats of the game'.
The membership is also given to those individuals who have made an ‘exceptional contribution' to club or the sport.
"Five Indian players have been recognised with Honorary Life Membership. Jhulan Goswami, who bowed out from internationals in the England v India Women's One-Day International at Lord's last year, is the leading wicket-taker in women's ODIs whilst Mithali Raj heads the run-scoring list with 7,805 in 211 innings," said the MCC on its website.
"MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh were both integral parts of the India side which won the 2007 ICC Men's World T20 and the 2011 ICC Men's World Cup, and Suresh Raina scored over 5,500 ODI runs across a 13-year career," the note added.
The CEO and secretary of the MCC, Guy Lavender said, "We are thrilled to be able to announce our newest cohort of Honorary Life Members of MCC, as we prepare for the new international summer.
"The names that have been announced today are some of the greatest international players of modern times, and we are privileged to now count them as valued Members of our Club."
The others who were honoured with the membership are Merissa Aguilleira from the West Indies, Jenny Gunn, Laura Marsh, Anya Shrubsole, Eoin Morgan and Kevin Pietersen from England, Pakistan's Mohammad Hafeez, Bangladesh's Mashrafe Mortaza, South Africa's Dale Steyn, Australia's Rachael Haynes and New Zealand's Amy Satterhwaite and Ross Taylor.
