In 2023, Virat Kohli emerged victorious over Lionel Messi, earning the title of Publicity Athlete of the Year. With a final vote tally of 78-22, the former captain of India defeated the mainstay of Argentine football.
To put it simply, Pubity is a 20+-channel online community. On their official Instagram account, they have more than 35 million followers. Their subsidiary channel, Pubity Sport, established a voting system to allow viewers to choose the athlete of the year. Other athletes included in the poll were Max Verstappen, Cristiano Ronaldo, Novak Djokovic, Pat Cummins, LeBron James, Erling Haaland, and Cristiano Ronaldo.
There was a knockout format used to match one athlete against another. It ultimately came down to Messi and Kohli facing off in the summit match. The right-handed batter went on to win the game with a commanding lead and take home the trophy.
View this post on Instagram
With Virat Kohli, 2023 was an incredible year. Slightly behind top-scorer Shubman Gill by just 106 runs, he ended as the second-highest run scorer in international cricket. Not to be overlooked, though, is the fact that Kohli missed all of the 2023 T20I matches. During the 2023 ODI World Cup, Delhi’s battering was at its best. He finished as the leading run scorer in a single edition of the major event with an incredible 765 runs in 11 innings.
During India’s first Test match against South Africa, Virat Kohli was recently observed in action.
He scored 38 runs in the first inning and then hammered 76 runs in the next. In the two-match series, India is already behind 0-1 after losing by an inning and 32 runs. On Wednesday, January 3, in Cape Town, the second Test gets underway.
Conversely, Messi took home the Ballon d’Or in 2023 after helping Argentina win a record-tying third FIFA World Cup. His performances in the grand finale saw him earn the coveted Golden Ball after contributing three assists and seven goals. In the 2022–2023 campaign, he not only scored 41 goals and provided an equal number of assists to help his former team, Paris Saint-Germain, win the Ligue 1 title.
India
