On and off the field, Virat Kohli continues to shine. While he racked up a huge amount of runs and accolades on the cricket field, his famousness and personality grew bigger on the globe as Kohli is now ranked the third-most popular sportsperson of 2023, and at the top among Asians.
The 35-year-old superstar Indian batsman was voted just behind footballing icons Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi by Hopper HQ, a leading company that tracks social media, in the list of most popular sports people in 2023.
Fans enjoyed as runs flew like before from the bat of Virat Kohli, who bounced back in a handsome fashion this year after a lean period between 2021 to late 2022.
It is no surprise that Ronaldo and Messi attained the top two sports, with football being the most recognised and followed sport in the world, plus both of them made major career moves in 2022/23.
List of the most popular sports stars of 2023 (Hopper HQ):
1. Cristiano Ronaldo
2. Lionel Messi
3. Virat Kohli
4. Neymar
5. LeBron James
That Kohli got into this list at the third spot, ahead of Brazilian football Neymar Jr and American basketball legend LeBron James is a massive testament to Kohli’s rapidly growing popularity in the world.
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Virat Kohli is already the most followed Indian on Instagram, and 16th overall in the world.
With 2048 runs at an average of 66, Kohli finished 2023 as the second-leading international run-scorer, behind Shubman Gill, who scored only 106 more runs than Kohli did while playing 16 more innings.
Kohli notched up 8 centuries and 10 fifties in 36 innings this year. His last innings came in a losing cause – Kohli scored 76 in the second innings of the Centurion Test against South Africa.
To avoid a series loss, India will aim to win the Cape Town Test, starting January 3rd.
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