NBA stars are some of the biggest names in the US. It is evident from the exorbitant contracts they earn and their social media following. However, there are some stars who transcend the sport and have become global celebrities. Names such as LeBron James, Michael Jordan, and Shaquille O’Neal are household names throughout the world. Nevertheless, their popularity comes nowhere close to that of a $126 million worth icon of another popular sport.

Cricket is enjoyed by over two billion fans worldwide, but it is making a very expensive foray into the US sports scene now. Americans still adapting to the baseball-adjacent sport are still absorbing the popularity of cricket and its stars. Now that the inaugural season of Major League Cricket is receiving unprecedented hype, sports analysts are putting the appeal of the gentleman’s game into perspective.

34-year-old cricket icon overshadows Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron James

Entrepreneur Joe Pompliano explained the global popularity of cricket on his podcast, The Joe Pomp Show. He labeled it as the second most popular sport in the world. He also revealed that it had the potential to expand in the US. Consumed by 2.5 billion people worldwide, these fans have made cricketers international stars.

One of its biggest success stories is Virat Kohli, widely regarded as one of the best batsmen of his generation. He is the former captain of the Indian national cricket team and has multiple World Cup appearances. Even his personal life is of heavy interest to fans. That’s why more than 257 million Instagram users follow him.

As Pompliano said, “For context on how big cricket is outside the US: Virat Kohli has 256 million Instagram followers, which is more than LeBron James, Serena Williams, Roger Federer, Shohei Ohtani, Patrick Mahomes, and Tiger Woods….combined.”

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To put it into perspective, the most followed NBA player on Instagram, LeBron James has 157 million followers, 100 million short of Kohli’s followership. NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal recently hit 32 million followers.

Combining the follower count of other sports titans still comes short of the cricketer. Soccer stars, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are the only athletes with a higher follower count than Virat Kohli.

Cricket infiltrates the US arena

While popular in the Indian subcontinent, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and a few other countries, cricket had not established a major presence in the USA. That is changing with the arrival of the MLC (Major League Cricket). The unexpected success has many analysts predicting that the MLC could rival one of the biggest sports leagues in the USA, the NFL.

The debut season had six teams and large crowds. A massive viewership and millions in ticket sales have attracted more investors to the league. Pompliano revealed that the CEOs of Microsoft and Adobe are interested in getting in on the action.

Plans are reportedly underway for the MLC to have a stadium and broadcast presence. If these plans go ahead, it could even compete with the NBA one day. Are you intrigued by cricket yet? Let us know in the comments.

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