India skipper Virat Kohli is the only athlete from India to feature in the Forbes 2019 list of world's highest-paid athletes announced on Tuesday, June 11. He is ranked 100th on the list, Kohli's rank has gone down as he was ranked 83rd on last year's list, despite his increase in endorsements by $1 million.
Barcelona star Lionel Messi is on top of the list raking with a whopping $127 1million from salary and endorsements. He dethroned boxer Floyd Mayweather as the sports world's highest earner. Messi's long-time rival and Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo is second on the list but far behind Messi earning $109 1million.
According to Forbes, Kohli is estimated to earn $21 1million from endorsements and $4 1million from salary, taking his total to $25 1million in the last 12 months.
Virat Kohli, who is leading India in this year's ICC Cricket World Cup, has a couple of big-money deals with some of the sport's biggest brands. He is one of the most popular cricketers in the world at this moment and is also the best and consistent performer. He is ranked number one on both the ICC ODI and Test batsmen rankings. The Indian team under his captaincy has been performing really well and are the title contenders in the ongoing World Cup.
India has won both their first two matches in the World Cup and is going to face New Zealand next on June 13.
