Some cricketers are among the world’s most popular celebrities in the modern era. The likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya and other stars have an enormous fan following, not just in India but across continents as well.
It is not uncommon for brands to have cricketers as the faces of their advertisements and social campaigns. Even celebrities from other fields have had crossovers with cricket stars to reach out to newer audiences. Besides, there have also been exchanges between cricketers and politicians.
While of the some crossovers were expected to take place any time, here’s a list of the top five surprise crossovers of the year so far.
#1 MS Dhoni spotted playing golf with Donald Trump
Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni is currently on a tour of the United States of America. He was spotted watching the men’s singles quarterfinal match of US Open 2023 between Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcarez.
While fans would have expected a meeting between Dhoni and a tennis star in the US, they were amazed to see the CSK skipper playing golf with former US President, Donald Trump.
#2 Rohit Sharma and Steve Smith meet Narendra Modi and Anthony Albanese in Ahmedabad
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Alabanese was on a visit to India earlier this year. During his visit, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited him to watch the first day’s play of the India vs Australia Test at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Before the game got underway, there was a celebration in traditional Indian style as the two Prime Ministers waved at the fans at the world’s largest cricket stadium. The two teams’ captains Rohit Sharma and Steve Smith also posed with the Prime Ministers.
#3 Venkatesh Iyer meets WWE Superstar Jinder Mahal in Hyderabad
WWE Superstars are currently in Hyderabad for the Superstar Spectacle event. Indian origin Superstar Jinder Mahal is also a part of the visiting party. Before the show in Hyderabad, Mahal caught up with star Indian all-rounder, Venkatesh Iyer.
A video of the two celebrities meeting each other has surfaced on the internet. Iyer is a WWE fan, and it looks like he will be watching the event live in Hyderabad.
#4 Sonam Kapoor watches IPL match with Tim Cook
Apple CEO Tim Cook visited India earlier this year. During his visit, Cook attended an IPL match between Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
Much to everyone’s surprise, Cook was spotted with Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor and her husband Anand Ahuja during the match. Sonam also shared photos from the match on her Instagram account later. Delhi Capitals co-owner Parth Jindal and BCCI Vice-President Rajeev Shukla were also spotted in the photos.
#5 Suresh Raina and Imran Khan use Korean music for their social media posts
Korean Pop music has gained a lot of popularity in recent years. There are a lot of fans of the music genre outside Korea as well. Former Indian cricketer Suresh Raina and former Pakistan captain Imran Khan used Korean music on their social media posts this year.
Raina used Jungkook’s ‘Dreamers’ song for his throwback post of India’s 2011 World Cup win. Similarly, Khan used slow audio of ‘Dreamers’ for a TikTok video. Not many would have expected cricketers to use Korean music for their social media posts one day.