“King deserves it”- Virat Kohli closer to winning Pubity Athlete of the Year after beating Lionel Messi in fan vote, fans over the moon

Virat Kohli received over 78% of the votes, which ultimately declared him Pubity's Athlete of the year.

“King deserves it”- Virat Kohli closer to winning Pubity Athlete of the Year after beating Lionel Messi in fan vote, fans over the moon

Virat Kohli celebrates as he completes his 100th run of the innings (Image via ESPN)

Recently an Internet page, Puberty, conducted a fan poll to find out the athlete of the year. After a fan voting, 8 athletes from different disciplines were shortlisted and made to go in a knockout tournament. The 8 included F1’s Max Verstappen, football’s Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, tennis’s Novak Dokovic and cricket’s Virat Kohli. 

After 4 days of fan voting, Virat Kohli is close to winning it, beating Lionel Messi in the final. He received 78% of the votes and beats Messi for the title. In the run into the finals, Kohli was put up against MMA fighter Islam Makhachev in the first round and Novak Djokovic in the 2nd round. 

Lionel Messi on the other hand had rival Ronaldo and Verstappen in his run into the finals. Messi has recently won the Ballon d’Or, Time’s Athlete of the Year and Laureus World Sportsman of the Year. Virat Kohli had one of his best years as a batter, becoming the first batter to score 700+ runs in the World Cup. 

Related: Virat Kohli crowned BIGGER than Tom Brady, LeBron James, and Tiger Woods as cricket is all set to be included in 2028 Olympics

Fans ecstatic as Virat Kohli beats Lionel Messi 

Many fans were happy with VIrat Kohli being voted as the Athlete of the year. Many people commented how he deserved it for an incredible year for India. Although he didn’t win any major trophy for the nation, he was one of the best cricketers of the year. 

Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli leaps in joy as he brings up yet another century (Image via ESPN)

Check out their reactions below: 

https://twitter.com/harris00071/status/1741456174825029940?s=20
https://twitter.com/MalakCric/status/1741456253803438170?s=20

Virat Kohli has scored a combined 2048 runs in ODIs and Tests. He broke many records, like the most ODI centuries and the most runs scored in a World Cup. After a tough 2 years in Test cricket, he scored his first Test century in March against Australia. In the 2023 ODI World Cup, he scored 3 centuries and 4 half centuries. 

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