In the ongoing 2023 World Cup, Virat Kohli has emerged as a pivotal force for Team India. He has showcased exceptional form and contributed significantly to his side’s five consecutive victories.

Team India’s flawless campaign in the World Cup has established them as the only unbeaten team in the competition. Their latest triumph over New Zealand in Dharamsala further solidified their status as serious contenders for the championship.

Kohli’s stellar contribution to India’s success was evident from the tournament’s outset. In the opening match, he rescued the team from a challenging 2/3 situation, scoring a brilliant 85 in pursuit of a 200-run target. His consistent performance continued with an unbeaten 55 against Afghanistan. He also scored his 48th ODI century against Bangladesh.

Despite narrowly missing the opportunity to equal Sachin Tendulkar’s world record in the recent match, Kohli’s exceptional form has garnered praise from cricket pundits and former players.

“Virat Kohli is unparalleled in chases. It wouldn’t surprise me if he achieves his 49th century before the final and clinches his 50th in the final. It’s destined. I shared this on social media – true champions always shine in World Cups, shaping their legacies. Just like footballer Lionel Messi winning the World Cup for Argentina, Virat has already won one. You sense he’s determined to lead India all the way,” former England captain Michael Vaughan said during the Club Prairie Fire podcast.

Australian legend Adam Gilchrist, echoed Vaughan’s sentiments, expressing that Kohli has not yet reached his peak in the World Cup.

“Virat operates like a well-oiled machine, hasn’t hit full throttle, he’s just coasting,” Gilchrist said.

As India enjoys a week-long break before their next match against England, cricket enthusiasts are eager to witness Virat Kohli’s brilliance on the field.

The post Former England captain compares Virat Kohli to Lionel Messi appeared first on Crictoday.

Hooper HQ, the leading scheduling tool for Instagram, recently published a list of top-earning celebrities on the platform on August 11. India star player Virat Kohli, who is the most followed cricketer on Instagram with 256 followers, took a massive hike from his eight crore fee in 2022.

In the recently released list, Virat now takes up to 11.45 crore per Instagram post, which is the most by an Asian. Besides being the highest-paid cricketer on the photo-sharing app, Virat takes home the 5th best amount by men in the world and 14th overall.

Talking about athletes, Virat is third on the list behind footballing legends Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese, who recently became the first to reach 600 million followers on Instagram, is the highest-paid celebrity with 26.7 crore per post. Meanwhile, 2022 World Cup winner Lionel Messi charges 21.5 crore.

Virat is eyeing to match Messi and Ronaldo’s feat, as the 34-year-old is quite active on Instagram and often uploads promotional posts. At present, Virat is enjoying his time off as he is not a part of the T20I series against West Indies and Ireland and will be seen next in action during Asia Cup.

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AB de Villiers has lauded Virat Kohli for his hard work and determination. He compared the former India captain to Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Lewis Hamilton.

“Virat Kohli is like Woods, Ronaldo, Messi, Djokovic, Federer and Hamilton. He has a desire to be the best and doesn’t give up. His fighting spirit is amazing and he is the best of the best,” AB de Villiers said on his YouTube channel.

Kohli will play in the upcoming three one-day internationals against the West Indies. He hasn’t been named in the squad for the five T20Is against the same opponent.

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A day after Twitter revoked the blue ticks of several renowned figures, Sachin Tendulkar hosted a Q&A session for his fans on April 21, where his admirers asked him several questions.

During that session, one curious fan asked the master blaster about his pick between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, the two modern-day greats in football.

In reply, Sachin shared a Twitter link, which had a photo of Lionel Messi kissing the World Cup trophy, which he won recently in Qatar. While Tendulkar made his choice of favourite footballer clear, his decision to choose Lionel Messi over Cristiano Ronaldo did not get well among the fans as it started a verbal war.

Cristiano Ronaldo fans blasted the 48-year-old for choosing Messi over their idol and termed Virat Kohli a better player since Virat prefers Ronaldo over the Argentinian great.

Meanwhile, Messi fans defended Sachin’s choice and gave befitting replies to the troll. Here are some of the reactions after Sachin’s answer.

One Ronaldo fan wrote, “Time for Virat and Siraj to unfollow you.” In reply, a Messi fan tweeted, ‘Sir, you have great footballing sense.’

It is not the first time Messi and Ronaldo’s fans have argued over who is the better player among the two legendary footballers.

LSG vs GT Dream 11 Team | Lucknow vs Gujarat Dream Team -VIDEO

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The Indian cricket team will be one of the favourites when the 2023 ODI World starts. They will also play the World Test Championship final against Australia in June at The Oval.

The sub-continent team won the last ICC Trophy under MS Dhoni in 2013. The Men in Blue defeated England in the Champions Trophy. Since then, it has been a barren run. Former India head coach Ravi Shastri recently opined on India’s performances in the big events and gave examples of Sachin Tendulkar and Lionel Messi.

Speaking to SportsYaari, Shastri said that India have been consistent in the ICC events, and once they start winning, it will rain trophies.

“India are due. They have been consistent. Look at Sachin Tendulkar; he won the World Cup in his sixth attempt. Even Lionel Messi won the World Cup at the fag end of his career. It will rain trophies for India once they win one,” he said. 

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Virat Kohli follows Cristiano Ronaldo and has often lauded the legendary player for his performance in different football leagues of the world.

Ronaldo is one of the best footballers but critics have regularly predicted the end of his career.

After leaving the Manchester United, he moved to Saudi Arabia to play for Al Nassr. His club played its last game against PSG, the French Champions.

Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, Sergio Ramos and many other stars are playing for the French Ligue’s club.

Paris Saint Germain won the game by a margin of 5-4 with Messi and Mbappé scoring for their team. On the other hand, Ronaldo scored two goals for his new club.

Meanwhile, Kohli took to social media to slam Ronaldo’s critics.

“Still doing it at the highest level at 38. The football experts sitting and criticizing him ever week for attention and to be in the news are conveniently quite now that he has put in this kind of a performance against one of the top clubs in the world. And he was apparently finished,” he wrote.

Kohli is currently playing the ongoing three-match ODI series against New Zealand.

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PARIS (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo’s first game in Saudi Arabia is set to be against Paris Saint-Germain and a possible reunion with his career-long rival Lionel Messi.

PSG said Monday it will play a Jan. 19 friendly in Riyadh against a composite team of players from Ronaldo’s new club Al Nassr and Al Hilal, the current Asian Champions League title holder.

Ronaldo should have to wait until Jan. 22 to make his formal debut for Al-Nassr in a league game against Al Ettifaq.

World soccer rules require the 37-year-old star to finish serving a two-match suspension imposed by the English Football Association in November ahead of the World Cup. Ronaldo slapped a mobile phone out of a fan’s hand following a game against Everton last April.

Qatar-owned PSG is visiting Saudi Arabia during a two-day break in the region, including a visit to Doha for promotional work with the club’s portfolio of Qatari sponsors.

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LONDON (AP) — Less than two weeks after his great rival Lionel Messi lifted the World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo has completed a move to Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr and likely signalled the end of his career in elite club soccer.

In agreeing a contract until 2025, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner has ended speculation about his future after having his contract terminated by Manchester United last month.

“I am fortunate that I have won everything I set out to win in European football and feel now that this is the right moment to share my experience in Asia,” Ronaldo said.

Al Nassr described the deal as “history in the making,” however, it is likely to raise questions about Ronaldo’s ambition at this stage of his career.

While Messi finally won the one major trophy that had evaded the two men widely regarded as the greatest players of their generation, after leading Argentina to the World Cup in Qatar, Ronaldo will be playing outside of top level European soccer for the first time in his career.

Media reports have claimed the 37-year-old Portugal international could earn up to $200 million a year from the move, but he will miss out on the chance to extend his record as the all-time leading scorer in the Champions League with his record currently standing at 140 goals.

Messi is on 129 goals in the competition.

Ronaldo is also unlikely to add to his Ballon d’Or collection – the trophy awarded to the best player in the world.

Meanwhile, Messi will be among the favourites to win that trophy for an eighth time next year after his World Cup triumph.

He also has the chance to win the Champions League with Paris Saint-Germain, having lifted European club soccer’s biggest prize on four occasions with Barcelona.

Ronaldo won the Champions League five times during spells with United and Real Madrid.

Six months ago Ronaldo wanted to join a team playing in the Champions League after United failed to qualify for this season’s competition.

However, a move never materialized, with the most serious interest in him coming from an unnamed Saudi Arabian club.

It is not known what other serious offers were made after he became a free agent last month, but the move to Al Nassr represents a significant step down compared to the level he has operated at throughout his career.

Still it is a major coup for soccer in the Middle East and will add to the debate over Saudi Arabia’s attempts to use so-called “sportswashing” to improve its reputation internationally after its sovereign wealth fund led a buyout of Premier League club Newcastle United last year.

“This is more than history in the making. This is a signing that will not only inspire our club to achieve even greater success but inspire our league, our nation and future generations, boys and girls to be the best version of themselves,” Al Nassr posted on social media.

Ronaldo remains one of soccer’s biggest global icons, but the move comes at a time when he has faced questions over his ability to still produce his best form at the highest level.

He managed just three goals for United in 16 games this season, with one of those coming from the penalty spot.

He became the first male player to score in five World Cups with his penalty in Portugal’s 3-2 win against Ghana in Qatar, but ended the tournament having been dropped for his country’s last two games before going out to Morocco in the quarterfinals.

By comparison Messi inspired Argentina’s third World Cup triumph, scoring seven goals, including two in the 4-2 penalty shootout win against France in the final after a 3-3 draw through extra time.

Ronaldo and Messi have had their achievements compared throughout their careers.

Messi’s World Cup win saw him emulate soccer greats Pele and Diego Maradona by lifting the sport’s biggest prize.

To many, it will also have given him the edge in his personal rivalry with Ronaldo. And at the age of 35, he still has time to further embellish his career in top level soccer.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo has earned headlines in recent months for his antics away from the field.

He was dropped and made to train away from United’s first team when refusing to come on as a substitute in a game against Tottenham in October.

He then conducted an explosive interview with Piers Morgan in which he criticized manager Erik ten Hag and United’s owners the Glazer family.

It led to the termination of his contract, his eventual move to Al Nassr and the next chapter of his career away from the glare of top flight European soccer.

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On Friday, Former India off-spinner Pragyan Ojha, a member of the IPL governing council, took to Instagram to announce that Lionel Messi has sent a special signed Argentina jersey for BCCI secretary Jay Shah.

Lionel Messi, Argentina’s top-scorer, fulfilled his much-awaited dream to win a World Cup after Argentina defeated France in the finals to clinch their 3rd World Cup title.

The World Cup final broke several viewership records. The Indian side also watched the live stream of the match in Bangladesh. Among other renowned figures, Jay Shah and Pragyan Ojha also viewed the game.

As a gratitude for all the love and support from India, the Argentina Football Association (AFA) sent a special Lionel Messi signed jersey for Jay Shah. Ojha posted the same on social media, where he posed with Shah, holding the special jersey.

The jersey read, ‘For Jay Shah’ and also had Messi’s signature. “#GOAT sends his best wishes & signed match jersey for jay bhai! What a humble personality. Hopefully, I will get one for myself. Soon,” Ojha captioned the post on Instagram.

After Argentina’s victory, Shah posted a congratulatory Tweet for Messi and Argentina.

“What an incredible game of football! Both teams played extraordinarily well, but congratulations to Argentina for winning their 3rd #FIFAWorldCup! A well-deserved victory,” Shah’s tweet read.

स्टोक्स और ग्रीन ने बढ़ाई अपनी टीम की टेंशन  -VIDEO

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LUSAIL, Qatar (AP) — The six-goal final between France and Argentina set a World Cup record of 172 at this year’s tournament.

The previous tournament record of 171 goals was set in 1998 and 2014. The 1998 tournament in France was the first edition in the current 64-game, 32-team format.

A new record is likely to be set at the 2026 World Cup, which has been expanded to 48 teams playing either 80 or 104 games.

On Sunday, Argentina and France drew 3-3 through extra time to set the record. Lionel Messi scored two goals for Argentina and Kylian Mbappe got a hat trick for France — the first in a World Cup final since 1966.

Argentina won the title, its third, by prevailing 4-2 in a penalty shootout.

It was the second straight six-goal final. France defeated Croatia 4-2 four years ago in Russia.

The 2.63 goals per game average in Qatar is far below the World Cup record of 5.38 goals per game at the 1954 edition in Switzerland.

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