New Delhi, May 23 (UNI) Indian cricketers Virat Kohli and M S Dhoni have secured their names in the list of ESPN world fame-100, along with Cristiano Ronaldo who is on the top at the list.
Team India captain Kohli is on the 11th spot while Dhoni is on 20th, according to an ESPN statement on Tuesday.
The list, which figures most famous sportspersons in world sport, contains a total 11 Indian athletes. Of 11, nine are cricketers.
The 11 spoertspersons are Virat Kohli (11th), MS Dhoni (20th), Rohit Sharma (30th), Suresh Raina (41st), Yuvraj Singh (57th), R Ashwin (71st), Harbhajan Singh (80th), Gautam Gambhir (83rd), Shikhar Dhawan (94th), while two athletes are Saina Nehwal (50th), Sania Mirza (100th).
As India is one of the biggest users of Facebook and cricket is the leading sport in the country, it is no surprise that Yuvraj Singh (57) comes ahead of four-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton (68), while Harbhajan Singh (80) and Gautam Gambhir (83) are above football stars Robert Lewandowski (84) and Eden Hazard (85).
However, Real Madrid and Portugal superstar Ronaldo are in the list for the third successive year while NBA superstar LeBron James and Barcelona star Lionel Messi were on the second and third spot. After guiding Los Blancos to their third successive UEFA Champions League final by scoring in ten consecutive European matches, Portugal captain Ronaldo retains his crown. Around 121.7 million people following him on the social media.
Others who are in the top ten of the list are Neymar, Roger Federer, Tiger Woods, Kevin Durant, Rafael Nadal, Stephen Curry and Phil Mickelson.
ESPN uses various categories to score athletes around the world including search score, social media as well as endorsement deals to come to a judgement.
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