Mahendra Singh Dhoni Ahead of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo in List of Marketable Sportspersons

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's humungous fan following is once again clear from the fact that he has pipped football superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in a list of most marketable sports personalities. (Virat Kohli's Pakistani 'lookalike' sets Twitter abuzz)

In the list released by London School of Marketing, Dhoni was ninth-most marketable while Real Madrid star Ronaldo is tenth. Barcelona icon Messi is further down at 13th. (Indian bowling attack: Sandeep Patil and MS Dhoni not on same page)

Interestingly, Dhoni - the only cricketer in the top-20 list - has also pipped other iconic sports personalities who have a phenomenal global presence. This includes tennis star Maria Sharapova (12th), world's fastest man Usain Bolt (14th) and world's richest sportsperson Floyd Mayweather (19th). (Also read: Sundar Raman is an employee, not decision-maker at BCCI)

The list is topped by veteran Swiss tennis star Roger Federer who surpassed golfers Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

The full power list is given below.

1. Roger Federer - Tennis

2. Tiger Woods - Golf

3. Phil Mickelson - Golf

4. LeBron James - Basketball

5. Kevin Durant - Basketball

6. Rory McIlroy - Golf

7. Novak Djokovic - Tennis

8. Rafael Nadal - Tennis

9. Mahendra Singh Dhoni - Cricket

10. Cristiano Ronaldo - Football

11. Kobe Bryant - Basketball

12. Maria Sharapova - Tennis

13. Lionel Messi - Football

14. Usain Bolt - Track

15. Neymar - Football

16. Andy Murray - Tennis

17. Kei Nishikori - Tennis

18. Derrick Rose - Basketball

19. Floyd Mayweather - Boxing

20. Serena Williams - Tennis