While Virat Kohli is recognised as one of the greteast cricketers ever to have played the game, the star India batter has become one of the ambassadors of the sport overall. Kohli is the most followed cricketer in the world and in terms of overall following, he comes only after the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. His 265 million following on Instagram is a whopping 106 million more than that of the basketball legend LeBron James.
His legacy goes far beyond any sporting achievement. He is credited to bring the culture of fitness on the cricket field and with Kohli at the helm of affairs of Indian cricket, the nation produced many fast bowlers that helped India did well not only in limited-overs cricket but also in Test matches, famously beating Australia in Australia.
However, despite being such a renowned name with his straight six off Haris Rauf in the T20 World Cup 2022 being called the 'shot of the century' by the International Cricket Council (ICC), it seems like his name is still not familiar to some of the other sporting legends. Brazil's Ronaldo Nazario, for instance, failed to recognise Kohli by name. In a video posted by YouTuber ishowSpeed, he can be seen asking is he knew Kohli.
"What’s that? A player?" Ronaldo said. He said that Kohli was not popular in Brazil however, when he showed Kohli's picture to the Brazilian football legend, he did instantly recognise who the player was.
Virat Kohli Opts Out Of IND vs AFG 1st T20I
While Kohli has been named in India's T20I squad for the first time since their defeat to England in the T20 World Cup 2022 semifinal, he has opted out of the series opener citing personal reasons. He will, however, be available for the second and third T20Is set to be played in Indore and Bengaluru respectively.