British website rank Indian superstar third in a list of the world's 50 most marketable athletes
Hail King Kohli, a marketing machine
India Test captain Virat Kohli's reputation as cricket's biggest global megastar has been validated by British sports marketing outlet Sportspro, which ranked him the world's third most marketable athlete in their annual list.
Kohli was beaten to the top spot by American NBA superstar Stephen Curry (first) and Juventus and France footballer Paul Pogba.
"Athletes from across the world have been ranked according to their marketing potential over a three-year period from this summer," the Sportspro website read.
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The categories within that criteria were listed as value for money, age, home market, charisma, willingness to be marketed, and crossover appeal.
Kohli was the only cricketer in a list of 50 athletes, made up from 20 sports, and the timing is apt given the 27-year-old's phenomenal run of form, which has helped take Royal Challengers Bangalore to the Indian Premier League final.
He was also the leading run-scorer in the preceding ICC World T20 tournament (Super 10s onward), with 273 including a remarkable match-winning 82no to knock Australia out in the group stages.
"I went through the same stuff that every cricketer goes through when he comes in. You are insecure about your place, you make mistakes in your desperation. You want to do really well and you don't really control yourself on and off the field," Kohli told Indian news agency PTI yesterday.
"But as time progresses, you settle down and make consistent choices in your game as well as off the field which gradually helps you be on the top of the game.
"Every day is a new day. I always feel that there is a scope for improvement and with every game, I take the plus and the minus as this helps me improvise.
"There is no substitute to hard work and discipline."
Kohli has blasted a record-breaking 919 runs in this IPL campaign, with four hundreds and six fifties, shattering the previous mark held by West Indian and RCB teammate Chris Gayle, who scored 733 in 2012.
Previously, no played had scored more than two hundreds in a single IPL season, and Kohli has the chance to add to his staggering record in Sunday night's final against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Sportspro said the lack of cricketers in the list was due to the "geographical idiosyncrasies" of the sport.
"England batsman Joe Root also misses the cut, despite becoming the face of English cricket at the age of just 25," it wrote.
"That there is only one cricketer in the list, despite the sport's huge commercial footprint, speaks to the geographical idiosyncrasies of its appeal beyond the giant Indian market – though Root and others have every chance of making future lists."