Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni only cricketers in ESPN's Top 100 list

Virat Kohli, who was recently ranked 3rd in the ‘Sports pro’ magazine’s list of the top 50 most marketable players list, has made to another prestigious list today after he was named among the top ten sportspersons of the world, according to a list produced by ESPN.

There are 92 men and only eight women in the top-100 list based on a formula that combines salaries, endorsements, social media following and Google search popularity.

Kohli’s growing popularity reflects on ESPN’s list which has just two cricketers. He is No. 8 on a list and sits ahead of Colombian and Real Madrid footballer James Rodriguez and tennis’ multi Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal. The only other cricketer who is on the list is India’s limited overs skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni who is at No. 14. Tennis star Sania Mirza is the third Indian on this elite list at No. 41.

Kohli has been in the form of his life this year. The Test skipper amassed a mammoth 973 runs in 16 games in the just concluded IPL. He almost single-handedly took his team to the final and was also named as the Player of the Tournament in the ICC World T20.

Most recently, Kohli was ranked at No. 3 in the Sports Pro list, sitting only behind Basketball player, NBA’s Most Valuable Player, Stephen Curry and Juventus’ footballer Paul Pogba.

Interestingly, Kohli, just like in the ESPN Top 10 list, was ranked above some of the biggest names in the world of sports. He was rated higher than Lionel Messi, number one ranked Tennis player Novak Djokovic, Usain Bolt, and Cristiano Ronaldo.