Virat Kohli is up there with Ronaldo and Messi: Former New Zealand cricketer on Indian star's social media influence
Former New Zealand cricketer Ross Taylor believes star Indian batter Virat Kohli is not just an icon of the game of cricket but also in the world of sports alongside football superstars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Kohli has a mind-boggling 269 million followers currently on Instagram.
Taylor shed light on how cricketers like Kohli are no longer just world-class sportspersons but also ambassadors of several products and how they influence the overall sporting culture. While Ronaldo and Messi have more than double of Kohli's Instagram followers, Taylor reckons the Indian cricketer's influence is no less.
Here's what Ross Taylor had to say about Virat Kohli and his craze on the '180 Not Out' podcast:
"Players are putting outposts endorsing products and things like that. Who would have thought of that in 2008? Someone like Kohli, who is a superstar in the world of cricket, but is also a global superstar in the world of sports. In terms of Instagram and social media, he’s up there with Ronaldo and Messi!"
While Ross Taylor understands that privacy has become an issue with cricketers now that they are more accessible in the social media age, he believes it is a good thing as cricketers are not as much 'critiqued' as movie stars and other celebrities.
Sanjay Manjrekar recently praised Virat Kohli for his T20 game
Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar recently opened up on the topic of Virat Kohli and his strike rate critics. The star batter, after one of the IPL 2024 games, took an indirect dig at experts who questioned his strike rate.
However, Manjrekar believes the feedback from the pundits, which is looked at as 'white noise' by many, has got the best out of Kohli. Here's what Manjrekar wrote about this in his column for Hindustan Times:
"It’s worth acknowledging that Virat is not the same T20 player he was two years ago. He must know deep down, surely, that the ‘outside noise’ has actually made him a better T20 batter today than he was two years ago."
Kohli has been pretty vocal about using the slog sweep more regularly to counter the plans of the spinners and he pulled that off almost to perfection throughout the IPL 2024 season. India will hope that the Orange Cap winner can replicate the form at the T20 World Cup set to begin next week in the West Indies and the USA.