Virat Kohli's brand value surges past Lionel Messi and Steph Curry

Virat Kohli’s value is on a surge, not just in the cricketing world but in the brand world as well. He has now pipped Rory McIlroy and Lionel Messi to climb to the number 7th in the list of most valuable athletes as per the Forbes. Already named as the highest earning cricketer, Virat Kohli is in a league that comprises of living legends like Cristiano Ronaldo, Roger Federer, Le Brown James, Usain Bolt and Tiger Woods.

On Sunday, Virat Kohli came one step closer to Sachin Tendulkar’s record of most ODI centuries as he went past Rocky Ponting to the second spot. He now has 31 hundreds, 18 short of Tendulkar’s 49 centuries.

Below is the list that features Kohli with the likes of Federer, Bolt, Ronaldo and Messi. An athlete’s brand value is their earnings (excluding salary and bonus from their sport and all investment income), minus the average income of the top 10 athletes in the same sport.

1. Roger Federer $37.2m
2. LeBron James $33.4m
3. Usain Bolt $27m
4. Cristiano Ronaldo $21.5m
5. Phil Mickelson $19.6m
6. Tiger Woods $16.6m
7. Virat Kohli $14.5m
8. Rory McIlroy $13.6m
9. Lionel Messi $13.5m
10. Steph Curry $13.4m

Currently, the Indian skipper is marshalling the Indian team against New Zealand, in the 2nd ODI at Pune. India are looking to level the series with a win in this match having lost the 1st ODI at Wankhede by 6 wickets. The Indian skipper was looking in good flow but was dismissed for 29 runs by Colin de Grandhomme.

Eventually, India won the match by 6 wickets, thanks to the knocks from Shikhar Dhawan and Dinesh Karthik. The upcoming 3rd ODI at Kanpur will be the decider. India were displaced by South Africa in the ICC ODI rankings. They both have identical ratings of 120 but the Protean outfit is ahead of them in terms of decimal numbers.