Virat Kohli reveals his brand value and the secret behind his signings

In a survey published by a sports magazine, the Indian skipper Virat Kohli has been named the third most marketable sportsperson, ahead of football legend Lionel Messi and Tennis star Novak Djokovic. Kohli is currently in the form of his life, as he seems like picking opponents and scoring hundreds at will. And the same manner, his current brand value is at a staggering high.

The 29-year-old recently signed a deal with sports apparel brand Puma worth USD 110 million and became the only Indian athlete to sign in a 100 crores deal with a single brand. The Puma ads featuring Kohli has been the talking point among youngsters and the brand has reached in many corners.

In an exclusive interview with Cricketnext, Kohli said “Well the Puma deal happened alongside MRF deal and my brand value should be somewhere in the region of USD 120 million. But these are just numbers for me and this is something that my management informs me about”.

“It is not something that I strive for. It is just a by-product of something that I do in my professional career and the focus always remains that. But yes, these things are an important facet of your life as well and I have a strong management team who are doing a good job,” he added.

I am part of every deal: Kohli

The Indian skipper also said that he puts his heart into whatever he endorses.”I am part of every deal and no deal is blindly signed. And my management also doesn’t bring anything to the table that doesn’t connect to me. But still, it is subject to something that I like or not. A brand may be very big but the campaign that they are willing to do or the creative freedom might not be there,” said Kohli.

Many former greats have said that Kohli’s fitness ethics has influenced many of his fellow mates. “When I started my fitness turnaround it was more of a lifestyle thing initially but now I think that it has become so important to the sport and everybody is taking up it in such a big way that it has become a part of my thinking pattern. So if something goes away from that, I would not want to be part of that.” he said.