{"id":6473,"date":"2026-04-21T11:14:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T05:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/virat-kohli-is-the-reason-i-follow-cricket-novak-djokovics-big-reveal-at-laureus-awards-cricket-news\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T11:14:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T05:44:20","slug":"virat-kohli-is-the-reason-i-follow-cricket-novak-djokovics-big-reveal-at-laureus-awards-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/virat-kohli-is-the-reason-i-follow-cricket-novak-djokovics-big-reveal-at-laureus-awards-cricket-news\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Virat Kohli is the reason I follow cricket&#8217;: Novak Djokovic\u2019s big reveal at Laureus Awards | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"e9jwa\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"GfdvZ\">\n<section class=\"_bIDB  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  E9tg9 \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"_bIDB\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"ypVvZ\">\n<div class=\"WGttI\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-130406849,imgsize-942499,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/130406849.jpg\" alt=\"'Virat Kohli is the reason I follow cricket': Novak Djokovic\u2019s big reveal at Laureus Awards\" title=\"Novak Djokovic lauds Virat Kohli at  Laureus awards 2026 (Screengrab\/X)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Ta7d_ img_cptn\"><span title=\"Novak Djokovic lauds Virat Kohli at  Laureus awards 2026 (Screengrab\/X)\">Novak Djokovic lauds Virat Kohli at  Laureus awards 2026 (Screengrab\/X)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/novak-djokovic\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\">Novak Djokovic<\/a>, the 24-time Grand Slam champion, expressed his admiration and affection for <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/indian-cricket\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\">Indian cricket<\/a> icon <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/cricket\/player-profile\/virat-kohli\/3993\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\">Virat Kohli<\/a> at the 2026 Laureus World Sports Awards, where he was hosting alongside freestyle skiing sensation Eileen Gu. <!-- -->Djokovic spoke about his love for Indian fans and revealed that his interest in cricket began because of Kohli.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"8\"\/>Ahead of the ceremony, during a red-carpet interaction, the tennis legend was asked about his message for India. Djokovic said he has long admired the country and its passionate fans, and also shared his desire to visit India soon.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"10\"\/>\u201cMy message is always love, respect, and appreciation for all the support I have personally received from Indian tennis and sports fans around the world over the years. <!-- -->I&#8217;ve met so many of them during this time. My message would also be: \u2018See you very soon in India,\u2019 because I need to go there. I&#8217;ve been feeling a calling to visit for the last couple of years. I really hope that I\u2019ll be able to come to India to host an event, play a match, or whatever it may be.<!-- --> I truly wish for that because I feel very close to the Indian people,\u201d Djokovic told Times Now.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"16\"\/>Coming from Serbia, a country where cricket is not widely followed, Djokovic also revealed how Virat Kohli influenced him to take an interest in the sport.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"19\"\/>\u201cYes, Virat is a friend and someone I, of course, respect and admire. He\u2019s actually, to be honest, the reason why I started following cricket. I hadn\u2019t followed it before, but through him, I started following it more. We keep in touch, and hopefully, when I come, I don\u2019t want to say if, but when I come, to India, he can join me. We could play a little bit of tennis and a little bit of cricket, have fun, and just spread positive vibes while celebrating sport,\u201d Djokovic added.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"22\"\/>Meanwhile, Tennis dominated the grand stage at the Laureus World Sports Awards 2026 ceremony, as Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka were crowned Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year respectively. The star-studded event was held at the iconic Cibeles Palace in Madrid, celebrating the finest achievements across global sport.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"24\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/cricket\/news\/virat-kohli-is-the-reason-i-follow-cricket-novak-djokovics-big-reveal-at-laureus-awards\/articleshow\/130406762.cms\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Novak Djokovic lauds Virat Kohli at Laureus awards 2026 (Screengrab\/X) Novak Djokovic, the 24-time Grand Slam champion, expressed his admiration and affection for Indian cricket icon Virat Kohli at the 2026 Laureus World Sports Awards, where he was hosting alongside freestyle skiing sensation Eileen Gu. Djokovic spoke about his love for Indian fans and revealed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6473","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}