Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi fall behind 35-year-old cricket icon in list of top 100 athletes of 2024

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have been surpassed by 35-year-old Indian cricket icon Virat Kohli, who has become the #1 player in The Ranker's list of 'The Best Athletes of 2024'.

Kohli is the only cricketer to feature on the list. He is followed closely by Ronaldo at #2, while Messi is at #4 at the time of writing.

Despite India's anti-climactic loss in the World Cup final against Australia, the superstar batter broke a plethora of records in the tournament.

The former Indian captain scored a staggering 765 runs, becoming the first batsman to cross 700 runs in a single World Cup edition. Moreover, he pipped cricketing maestro Sachin Tendulkar to become the only person to score 50 centuries in ODI cricket history.

In the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League, Virat Kohli is the second-highest run-scorer, with 500 runs in 10 matches at an average of 71.42.

The Ranker's list was curated not by sports journalists or pundits but by the votes of committed fans. Despite Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's stellar seasons, fans preferred Virat Kohli ahead of them. Paris Saint-Germain star Kylian Mbappe is the only other footballer in the top 10.

The athletes who make up the top 10 of the list are Virat Kohli, Cristiano Ronaldo, Novak Djokovic, Lionel Messi, Max Verstappen, Shohei Ohtani, Nikola Jokic, Steph Curry, Caitlin Clark, and Kylian Mbappe.

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Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's calendar year 2023 in numbers

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo ended 2023 with stellar statistics for the calendar year. The latter scored 54 goals in 59 appearances for club and country, while the former scored 28 goals in 44 games. Messi and Ronaldo also recorded 12 and 15 assists respectively.

One curious stat is that La Pulga did not take a single penalty (not including shoot-outs) for club or country in the entire calendar year. In contrast, Ronaldo took 15 penalties for Portugal and Al Nassr, maintaining a 100% conversion rate.

In terms of individual trophies, Messi won his 8th Best Fifa Men's Player and a record 8th Ballon d'Or. He was the top goalscorer for Inter Miami in their title-winning Leagues Cup campaign. Messi also won Ligue 1 with PSG.

Meanwhile, the 38-year-old Ronaldo won the Globe Soccer Maradona Award for the Best Goalscorer for his 54 goals in 59 games in 2023. The Portuguese talisman also bagged the Fans Favorite Player of the Year and Best Middle East Player awards. Cristiano won the Arab Club Champions Cup with Al Nassr as well.

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