Virat Kohli only Indian in 2017 Forbes list of 'The world's 100 highest-paid athletes'

What’s the story?

Team India captain Virat Kohli managed to breach the top-100 in the Forbes list of highest-paid athletes, becoming the only sportsperson from the country to feature on the list this year. “Indian cricket phenom Virat Kohli has already drawn comparisons to all-time great Sachin Tendulkar, and for good reason. In February Kohli signed with Puma on a reported eight-year, $16.5 million deal, and other brand partners include the likes of Pepsi, Audi, Herbalife and Tissot.”, Kohli’s profile on Forbes said.

In case you didn’t know…

Brand Kohli has skyrocketed ever since he got the Test captaincy in December 2014, having only increased further in the last two years, with red-hot IPL form and limited overs captaincy being the cherry on the cake. Recently, he evaluated himself to be around $120 million, taking into account all earnings and endorsements that he has currently.

The heart of the matter

The 28-year-old earned a total of $22M in 2017 (as of 6/6/2017), with $3M coming in from salary and match winnings, and the other $19M being raked via endorsements. Managed by Cornerstone’s Bunty Sajdeh, Kohli has been placed on the 89th spot in the list. Portugal and Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo occupied the top spot for the second year running, breaking into the 15-year old rivalry between Floyd Mayweather and Tiger Woods, both of whom used to vie for the numero uno spot before him. The top 100 earned over a whopping $3.11 billion this year, which is a marginal decrease from last year’s figures of $3.15 billion.

What’s next?

Kohli’s value as a brand is expected to go even further, as an exciting future for the Indian team beckons, with the 28-year-old at the helm of affairs. Even Forbes acknowledged his meteoric rise, pointing out that ‘a vast majority of his income comes from one of the sports world’s most impressive sponsorship portfolios’.

Author’s Take

It seems that the country just can’t have enough of Kohli, who has managed to edge out the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni to become the poster boy of Indian cricket. The brand has accentuated further due to his fighting nature and charming appeal that has connected well with the young generation. Other Indians should aim to follow suit as well, and carve a niche for themselves, and other less-popular sports in the list. Hopefully, the next time around we’ll find more female athletes in the list, alarmingly having just one representative (Serena Williams) out of 100 this time around.

Extra cover: $120 million worth Virat Kohli says brand value just a number for him