Virat Kohli must be at the top of the world right now, thanks to his never ending heroics with the bat in T-20 and the superman of cricket – ABD. His team is in the final of IPL and the ever growing sports icon has been named as the third most marketable athlete in the world by the magazine ‘SportsPro’.
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India’s Test and RCB’s captain popularity has massively increased globally. Last year he was at the number six spot in the rankings listed by the same magazine, but this time around he has bettered his stakes, as he has placed ahead the likes of Neymar, Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Usain Bolt in the 2016 top-50 most marketable list.
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Other sports stars who are behind Kohli are golfer Jordan Spieth (4th), Novak Djokovic (23rd), Rory McIlroy (34th), and Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgious (47th).
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On the top of the list is American basketball sensation Stephen Curry and Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba is after him. The only other Indian in this list is world’s number one doubles tennis player Sania Mirza who is currently participating in French Open.
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The magazine said it considered the marketing potential of an athlete over the next three years, not their current potential. Athletes across the world were ranked against criteria including age, home market, charisma, willingness to be marketed and crossover appeal, following several weeks of analysis by the SportsPro team and external industry experts.
