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Is A Virat Kohli Avatar On The Horizon? This Entrepreneur Has The Answer With NFTs and the Metaverse touted to be the next big thing round the block, how will NFTs of cricketers fare in that scenario? For example, how soon could we possibly see an avatar of Virat Kohli, accessible to only a select few?

By Kabir Singh Bhandari

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The craze around cricketers, their lifestyles and the brands that they associate themselves with refuses to die down. With NFTs and the Metaverse touted to be the next big thing round the block, how will NFTs of cricketers fare in that scenario? For example, how soon could we possibly see an avatar of Virat Kohli, accessible to only a select few? Jogesh Lulla, COO of Cornerstone Sports & Entertainment Pvt Ltd and co-founder of Cornerstone Sport seems to have the answer.

Cornerstone Sport handles Kohli and Lulla is responsible for all digital and technology related businesses of the agency. The consultancy is involved in talent management, licensing and merchandising, animation and gaming, digital solutions, sponsorship, brand activations, and the creation and development of IPs, in the fields of sports and entertainment.

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Lulla co-founded Cornerstone Sports in 2014 and went on to become the COO of Cornerstone Sport & Entertainment Pvt Ltd in 2016. Before that, he had lead projects like Wrogn, One8 (Virat Kohli's own brand that has been licensed to Puma), Hyper Tygers (A comic series on Indian cricketer Rohit Sharma), Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's Mobile Games, Gully (KL Rahul's clothing line), Muve Acoustics and Lux Industries.

In the past he was also associated with the healthcare space at medTians where he handled technical sales department and contributed in creating first networking and knowledge sharing portal exclusively for doctors. An alumnus of Purdue University, Lulla has a degree in Computer Technology.

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Talking about their NFT plans, Lulla said, "We also have a joint venture with Dharma Productions, so we could be looking at creating NFTs of some of Dharma's films. Those who purchase these NFTs would get access to premieres, meet and greet with celebrities or maybe even a chance to be in the movie. That is one part of the NFT vision."

Another part of their vision, looking at it long term, would be creating avatars of Virat Kohli, which shall itself make you part of a Virat Kohli club and it could be integrated into a metaverse so you can interact with others as this avatar. That same avatar can then go into a video game, like FreeFire where you play as a Virat Kohli.

Kabir Singh Bhandari

Former Senior Assistant Editor

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