India cricket maestro Virat Kohli is a self-confessed Cristiano Ronaldo fan and has often declared him as the greatest footballer of all time ahead of his eternal rival 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 ongoing FIFA World Cup 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 on Monday.
“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.
As soon as Virat Kohli shared his message for Cristiano Ronaldo, it began doing the rounds on social media with many netizens praising him for his words of appreciation for the Funchal-born football star.
“You’re only as good as your last outing, the saying goes, but for champions, there’s no beginning or end, they were, are and will always be champions, CR7 always the GOAT,” a fan said in response to Virat Kohli's post.
“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,” another added.
“Title or trophies don't define a player. Of course it's a feather in the cap but your ability to play the heart out along with your commitment towards the game defines you. Fortunate enough to watch you play over the years. Thanks Virat Kohli,” a third claimed.
“CR7, Kylian Mbappe is the result of the inspiration he drew from you! There are and will be millions who are probably playing or would play football because of you,” a fourth mentioned.
You can feel the pain more than anybody else cz you had worked really really hard and was too dedicated as a captain of your side but didn’t won any trophy 😭😭😭😭😭😭 ; still you are the 🐐; we need you the most everytime we play a match and we want you back CAPTAIN @imVkohli
— Harshita Sharma (@buttabommagirl) December 12, 2022
@imVkohli & @Cristiano You guys are born to dominate and rule your respective fields.Both are you teaches a lot about Hardwork,Success,Aggression,Determination.
Trophies or World cups doesn't describe you.
Legendary Goats 🔥CR7 & VK18♥️— Anandkumar (@SirAnand79) December 12, 2022
Nobody can doubt their brilliance..all these titles and accolades are dependent on the whole team..blaming it on one individual is not right..as an individual both are best at their game and ability…
— Shervir Sidhu #Team PriyankaChaharChoudhary (@shervir1) December 12, 2022
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.
Meanwhile, former India cricketers Ajit Agarkar and Ajay Jadeja heaped rich praise on Virat Kohli, pointing out that his consistency has been just remarkable.
The two retired players said that reaching 72 centuries in international cricket wasn't a mean task and Virat Kohli should be credited for raising the bar for the current generation of players with his insane numbers across formats.
“I think Ishan Kishan's innings helped him a lot. He will definitely send something to Litton Das because very few times such catches are dropped in international cricket, but you also have to remember that he took a brilliant catch in the first game. He could take his time today. An early wicket had fallen, so he had the time. The pitch kept on improving. The fluency came in later, there is no doubt that it was a struggle at the start but Ishan Kishan had removed the pressure from him,” Ajit Agarkar told Sony Sports.
“Only God (Sachin Tendulkar) is ahead. This is a milestone that cannot be achieved in one day. You can do what Ishan Kishan did in one day, or score a triple century, but to score 72 centuries is amazing. Consistency is his name,” Ajay Jadeja concluded.
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