Virat Kohli may be in the news now for his poor form in Test cricket but the fact remains that the success he has enjoyed overall in his career stands in a league of its own. Kohli turned 36 on Tuesday and continues to be arguably the biggest draw whenever he plays for India across formats. Apart from the sheer numbers he has stacked up in his career, Kohli has also been named among some of the biggest athletes in the world across sports due to his brand value.
The former captain has retired from T20Is but he remains an integral part of the Test and ODI squads, with his batting failures in the recent series against New Zealand being seen as a major reason for India’s historic 3-0 capitulation. It had been a good year for Kohli before that though, capped by him playing a match-winning knock in the T20 World Cup final and leading India to victory. With the former India captain turning 36, let us take a look at how he stacks up overall when compared to three other big name male athletes across sports, namely retired tennis legend Roger Federer, basketball great LeBron James and Portuguese football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.
Virat Kohli’s career
Kohli broke Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most centuries in ODI cricket and became the first to get to 50 tons in the format during the 2023 World Cup. He has 50 centuries and 72 half-centuries in the format and has scored 13,906 runs at an average of a whopping 58.18 in 295 matches. He has played 118 Tests and scored 9040 runs at an average of 47.83 with 29 centuries nad 31 half-centuries. Kohli also scored 4188 runs in 125 T20Is at an average of 48.69 and strike rate of 137.04 with a century and 38 half-centuries.
Kohli has won the 2011 World Cup and 2024 T20 World Cup. As captain, he led India to the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy and the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup. His biggest achievement as skipper comes in Test cricket, where Kohli is credited with establishing India’s virtual invincibility at home and leading their transformation into a stroung touring side across formats. Kohli led India to victory in the 2018/19 Test series against Australia, making them the first Asian side to win a Test series Down Under.
Cristiano Ronaldo: There is very little competition for Ronaldo on several levels. He is the most followed athlete on Instagram by some margin with a whopping 642 million followers. His great rival Lionel Messi comes second with 504 million. Kohli is third on the list behind the two football legends with 270 million followers. Ronaldo is arguably the greatest goalscorer of all time, scoring over 900 goals in his career. Only Messi has better his five Ballon d’Or wins and he as won the Champions League a whopping five times – four with Real Madrid and once with Manchester United. Ronaldo’s greatest international achievement remains the Euro 2016 title that he captained Portugal to.
LeBron James: As stated earlier, Kohli is third behind Ronaldo and Messi on the list of most followed athletes on Instagram which means he is also among the few athletes around the world whon has more followers than NBA legend LeBron James. James has won four NBA Championships and made a whopping 10 NBA Finals appearances, which includes eight consecutive appearances between 2011 and 2018. He is the all-time highest scorer in the NBA He has been named an All-Star a record 20 times, selected to the All-NBA Team 20 times (including 13 First Team selections) and the All-Defensive Team six times, and was a runner-up for the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award twice in his career. James is playing his 22nd season which itself is a record, tied with Vince Carter. In addition to all this, James is also a four-time Olympic medallist and a three-time Games gold medallist with the USA.
Roger Federer: The only retired athlete in this list, Roger Federer was routinely among the top 10 highest-paid athletes around the world. He ranked first in that list in 2020 with an income of USD 100 million in endorsements. Regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Federer dominated men’s tennis for much of the early 2000s. His invincibility was only broken with the rise of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Even after that, it was Federer, Nadal and Djokovic who held sway over every major title in tennis as the Big 3. Federer retired with 20 Grand Slam titles. He is the most succesfull player at Wimbledon, having won the grass court Grand Slam eight times, and has won an Open Era joint record five US Open titles. Federer also won the Australian Open six times and the French Open once in 2009. The latter helped him finish a career Grand Slam. Federer held the record for most Grand Slam titles for much of his career, having broken the previous record of 14 held by Peter Sampras at Wimbledon 2009.
