Meet the only cricketer in Forbes top 100 richest athletes

Given the terrific player that he is, it is no surprise that Indian captain Virat Kohli’s brand value is very high. The value, in fact, escalated even more after his successful home run from November 2016 to March 2017, during which he also scored four successive double tons in whites. No wonder he is at present the only person from India to feature in Forbes’ list of the richest athletes from around the world, among all sports. The list is topped by footballer Christiano Ronaldo.

Kohli, who is only 28 years old, has been ranked 89th on the 2017 Forbes list of ‘The World’s highest paid athletes’ with a total pay of USD 22 million. This includes USD three million from salary and winnings games and another 19 million from endorsements. The famous magazine has described the cricketer as “Indian cricket phenom”, and also says that the Kohli “for good reason” has already drawn comparisons with God of cricket Sachin Tendulkar.

It can also be noted that in the year 2016, Virat Kohli earned close to USD 1 million in salary and match fees from playing for India, and he’s also among the Indian Premier League’s highest-paid players. It was revealed that the Royal Challengers Bangalore, the team Kohli captains, pays him USD 2.3 million salary each season.

Athletes earn a lot from sponsorship deals 

“The vast majority of his income, however, comes from one of the sports world’s most impressive sponsorship portfolios,” Forbes said.

It stated that all the 100 combined earned a USD 3.11 billion over the past 12 months. The income figures include prize money, salaries, and bonuses earned between the time period from June 2016 and June 2017. Among the top 100, athletes from 21 countries are represented but it is the Americans who dominate the list with 63 entries mainly because the salaries in leagues like National Basketball Association, National Football League and Major League Baseball are very high.