LAHORE: With the development of cricket as a global game, the cricket stars have become heartthrobs and are essentially more popular than the film actors. Not only that, they earn more money than the movie stars as well and this could be found on the face of glamour and sports magazines and on TV as well. It is natural therefore for them to have a bling lifestyle.
Fast bowlers and hard-hitting batsmen have always been more flashy and flamboyant than their other teammates and one way to show their flamboyance is by having shiny, latest expensive cars. Following are the cars kept by five very famous cricketers.
Virat Kohli
Audi R8
Ever since Kohli exploded on the international scene with his extravagant batting during the ICC World Cup 2011 in India, his star is shining brighter and brighter. He came on the scene as a shy teenager and now is the vice-captain of Indian Cricket Team. With the fame, came money and endorsement deals which allowed him to maintain an impressive fleet of luxury cars. Although he has his everyday use SUV such as the Toyota Fortuner he owns two Audis. One is the Audi A8 and Audi R8 which cost more than Rs20 million.
Boom Boom Shahid Afridi
Better known as Boom Boom Afridi due to his explosive batting style and pinch hitting, Shahid Afridi is the face of Pakistan Cricket Team and perhaps the best known player around the globe. He is the player with most endorsements in the Pakistan team. Although traditionally well known for producing fast bowlers, the Pakistan team has been represented all around the world by Shahid Afridi. His net worth is supposed to be $10 million and he has a very fine car collection such as the Toyota Land Cruiser, Mitsubishi Pajero and the Range Rover.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Ferrari 599
The poor village boy from Jharkhand who made his wicket keeping and batting debut in 2005 is now Indian Cricket Team’s captain. Dhoni is one of the few Indian cricketers to have won the World Cup which he lifted in 2011 in front of a capacity crowd in Mumbai. The richest Indian cricketer ever, even richer than Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni not only has an impressive bike collection, he has a very very impressive luxury car collection as well. The list of his cars includes Ferrari 559, Mitsubishi Outlander, Toyota Corolla and GMC Sierra. Apart from the cars he has a very impressive SUV and all-terrain collection as well which has Audi Q7, Land Rover Freelander and Hummer H2 in it.
Lasith Malinga ‘The Slinga’
Also known as the “Slinger” or “The Slinga” due to his slingy, sidearm action, Lasith is the face of Sri Lankan cricket and their most famous and effective fast bowler since Chaminda Vaas. Malinga, like many fast bowlers is known for having a fondness for fast cars. But unlike other fast bowlers, who like to have a fast flashy car, Malinga has gone one step ahead and has started participating in amateur car racing. He has already competed in amateur races in India, Australia, South Africa and the USA. He is in the process of obtaining a race car driving licence to officially participate in Sri Lankan motorsport authorised races. Although he already owns Mercedes C-class and Audi R8 cars but for his motor sports related activities he has imported a special Mitsubishi car from Japan which he is going to get modified. After the modifications, this Mitsubishi is supposed to attain a peak speed of 300 km/h.
Kevin Pietersen
Aston Martin
Pietersen is not the most talented player ever produced by England because he was not born in England and played a lot of earlier cricket in his native South Africa. Pietersen single-handedly carried a mediocre English teams on his shoulders during the turbulent times of 2005-10. Although retired now from international cricket, he is still playing twenty 20 cricket and is still the most recognisable England cricket player ever. Pietersen admitted in an interview that his biggest extravagance was an Aston Martin which cost him £135, 000 which amounts to about Rs100m. (Courtesy www.carmudi.pk)
