Cristiano Ronaldo inspires me says Virat Kohli

What’s the story?

India’s Test captain Virat Kohli takes inspiration from Portuguese football icon Cristiano Ronaldo, and says he wants to emulate the latter’s work-ethic.

"I take a lot of inspiration from Cristiano Ronaldo. The way he has stayed on top for so many years, it's nothing but down to hard work. I have heard he is the most hardworking footballer in the world and that's why he is where he is.

Messi is a freak (genius) but this guy (Ronaldo) is giving him run for his money because of his hard work," Kohli said in a chat with the England and Wales Cricket Board.

In case you didn’t know...

Like Ronaldo, Kohli too is a fitness freak and spends a lot of hours in the gym. He believes that a fit and athletic body helps his performance in the cricket field. Their friendship too is not something very new. The Indian star has been a fan of the Real Madrid forward for some time now which is very evident from the fact that they had a quite a long Twitter conversation at a point of time in 2014.

The heart of the matter

Kohli says while Messi is a born genius, Ronaldo has reached that level by virtue of his hard work and his dedication to fitness. Therefore, he sees the Real star as an inspiration and says he will try and emulate the kind of work he puts in. Kohli’s liking for Ronaldo is nothing new, both are star players and are presently at the peak of their form. With his hard work and skills, Ronaldo also grabbed the Ballon d’ Or and the Euro Cup this year. So it is not surprising that Kohli loves his work-ethic.

What next?

We have to wait and see if and when Ronaldo reads this, how would he respond. Maybe Virat will succeed in getting the legend here in India. And also if Kohli follows the training regime of Ronaldo he might surpass his 1215 runs in Tests and over 2500 plus runs across all formats in 2016, this year.

Sportskeeda’s Take

It is not often that you see a star cricketer praising someone from a different sport who is still active. This just show’s Kohli’s humbleness and his desire to strive for excellence. Kohli has been a pillar for the Indian cricket team in the last few years, and hopefully, with his new found inspiration, he will keep doing that.