If I am endorsing a brand I would want to do it in the right way, says Virat Kohli

Early in this year, Kohli has signed an eight-year deal with the sports lifestyle brand Puma and became the first Indian sportsman to sign a Rs 100 crore-deal with a single brand. Kohli joined the likes of Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, and Thierry Henry as the global ambassador for the German brand.

"Well the Puma deal happened alongside MRF deal and my brand value should be somewhere in the region of USD 120 million. But these are just numbers for me and this is something that my management informs me about," said Kohli as quoted by News18.

"It is not something that I strive for. It is just a by-product of something that I do in my professional career and the focus always remains that. But yes, these things are an important facet of your life as well and I have a strong management team who are doing a good job".

Kohli also revealed that he didn’t sign any deal blindly or only for money. He took a step forward if the brand seems appealing for him. 

"I am part of every deal and no deal is blindly signed. And my management also doesn’t bring anything to the table that doesn’t connect to me. But still, it is subject to something that I like or not. A brand may be very big but the campaign that they are willing to do or the creative freedom might not be there," said Kohli.

"When I started my fitness turnaround it was more of a lifestyle thing initially but now I think that it has become so important to the sport and everybody is taking up it in such a big way that it has become a part of my thinking pattern. So if something goes away from that, I would not want to be part of that.

"Few brands that I have endorsed in the past, now I feel that I don’t connect well with them anymore. If I don’t consume those things then I won’t want to promote it for others to consume just because I am getting money out of it. If I am endorsing a brand I would want to do it in the right way," Kohli concluded.

Kohli has been ranked above the Argentinean and Barcelona football legend Lionel Messi as one of the most valuable brands among sports athletes by Forbes released in October 2017. Kohli is ranked seventh in the list released by Forbes ahead of Messi, who is at ninth. Between Kohli and Messi is the Irish golfer Rory McIlroy. Kohli is placed at seventh with a brand value of $14.5 million, compared to Messi’s $13.5 million.

Earlier in 2016, Kohli had been named as the 'Third Most Marketable Sportsperson' in the world ahead of football superstar Lionel Messi and tennis player Novak Djokovic in a survey published by magazine 'SportsPro'.