India batting icon Virat Kohli sparked a massive controversy with his Twitter post for Cristiano Ronaldo on Monday. As he declared CR7 as the greatest of all time (GOAT), the Portugal skipper's arch-rival Lionel Messi's fans immediately hit back at Virat Kohli for ignoring the Argentina talisman at a time when his side was in contention for winning the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

The criticism of the Delhi-born cricketer from Lionel Messi supporters and some of Team India's admirers came after Virat Kohli shared a special message for Cristiano Ronaldo following his team Portugal's departure from the World Cup in the Middle East.

Virat Kohli is a self-confessed Cristiano Ronaldo fan and has often declared him as the GOAT ahead of Lionel Messi. The Team India superstar, once again, called him the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) in a viral Twitter post after Cristiano Ronaldo left the competition in Qatar in tears.

CR7's dream of winning football's greatest competition came to an abrupt end on Saturday after Portugal suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at the hands of giant killers Morocco in the quarterfinals of the tournament.

Two days after an inconsolable Cristiano Ronaldo left the Middle East country, possibly ending his hopes of ever lifting the World Cup trophy, Virat Kohli took to Twitter to label the impact the Portugal captain has had on people around the world as a “gift from God”.

“No trophy or any title can take anything away from what you’ve done in this sport and for sports fans around the world. No title can explain the impact you’ve had on people and what I and so many around the world feel when we watch you play. That’s a gift from god,” Virat Kohli wrote on the microblogging website.

“A real blessing to a man who plays his heart out every single time and is the epitome of hard work and dedication and a true inspiration for any sportsperson. You are for me the greatest of all time,” he added.

However, Virat Kohli's words of appreciation for Cristiano Ronaldo were not liked by a section of netizens who urged him to stick to cricket and not waste his time on matters concerning football.

Moreover, some even suggested that Virat Kohli may have irked his fans by declaring Cristiano Ronaldo the GOAT because his admirers believe that he is the GOAT.

On the other hand, some pointed out that he is yet to share his views about Lionel Messi's performance in the World Cup and by not doing so, he was showing his bias towards the former Barcelona skipper and current Paris Saint-Germain attacker.

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Talking about Virat Kohli, he finally ended his nearly three-and-a-half-year-long century drought in One-Day Internationals for India with his 44th hundred in the 50-over format during the weekend. Virat Kohli's landmark came in the third match of the ODI series between India and Bangladesh on the same day Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal exited the World Cup.

Earlier this year, Virat Kohli ended the wait for an international century, which had started in November 2019, reaching the three-figure mark against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup. It was his maiden T20I hundred and 71st overall.

Remarkably, Virat Kohli brought an end to his international ton drought at the time under the captaincy of KL Rahul, and interestingly, the latter was leading the Men in Blue on Saturday as well. Before he made 113 runs off 91 balls against Bangladesh in Chattogram, Virat Kohli had scored an ODI hundred in August 2019.

The innings moved Virat Kohli into the second spot among the men with the most international hundreds. While Ricky Ponting has 71 centuries to his name across formats, the legendary Sachin Tendulkar occupies the Numero Uno position with 100 international tons. Moreover, Virat Kohli with 44 ODI hundreds stands only five behind Sachin Tendulkar's world record of 49 in the 50-over format.

Despite Virat Kohli ending his long wait for a hundred in ODIs, former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif was critical of the Men in Blue as they lost the ODI series to Bangladesh 2-1.

“It is not the time to count the number of centuries. It doesn't matter. They need to win a title. It has been years since India won a trophy. Whether Kohli scores 100 centuries or 200, it doesn't matter, what matters to Indian cricket and the fans is a title. If you look financially, IPL and Indian cricket are far ahead, but now there is pressure from the fans and the media that they want a title. Kohli can score 100 centuries if he wants, but the demand has changed. The Asia Cup is gone, so is Champions Trophy, the 2019 World Cup, the last two T20 World Cups. 100 centuries has its own place, but India and the Indian cricket board needs to win a title,” Rashid Latif said on his YouTube channel.