MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli among ESPN's top 100 most famous athletes

New Delhi: Four Indian cricketers - Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh - have been included in ESPN's list of the top 100 most famous athletes on the planet. 

This is Kohli and Dhoni's second appearance on the list as they were included last year as well, but Sania Mirza missed out on a spot in 2017.

Kohli, who was ranked eighth last year, dropped five places to 13th; with over 60 million followers on social media and $17.4 million made from endorsements, he is still the highest ranked Indian on the list.

Dhoni, India's former captain, follows Kohli closely at 15th - one place lower than his rank in 2016. 

Yuvraj Singh made the cut at No. 90, while Suresh Raina, who became the first Indian cricketer to complete 6000 T20 runs last year, rounded off the list, ranked 95th.

The rankings for current sportspersons are based on a formula devised by Ben Alamar, ESPN's director of sports analytics; it combines salary and endorsements with social media following and Google search popularity.

For the second year in a row, Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo topped the list, with a fan following of over 250 million on social media, and endorsements to the tune of $32 million. American basketball star LeBron James, Barcelona's Lionel Messi, tennis legend Roger Federer, and golfer Phil Mickelson complete the top five.