At the crease or on the 'gram, Virat Kohli is no stranger to making history. The cricket superstar has become the first Indian to pass 250 million followers on Instagram, further cementing his status as one of the most popular athletes on the planet.
Kohli, who holds a host of records including most runs in T20 internationals, is by far the most influential cricketer on social media. The former India captain has almost six times more followers than the second-most followed player on the platform, MS Dhoni with a comparatively paltry 42.5 million.
Given the size of the population and its obsession with cricket, it should come as no surprise that the 10 most followed cricketers in the world are all from India. Sachin Tendulkar, arguably the greatest batsman of all time, is narrowly behind Dhoni with 40.5 million, followed by current India captain Rohit Sharma (28.5 million).
The rest of the top 10 are: Hardik Pandya (25.9 million), Suresh Raina (23.8 million), AB de Villiers (21.9 million), Yuvraj Singh (17.5 million), KL Rahul (14.2 million), and Shikhar Dhawan (13.6 million).
But how does Kohli fare in the global rankings of most followed athletes?
Football dominates
Kohli is the third-most followed athlete on Instagram, his 250 million followers only surpassed by the whopping 464 million who follow Argentine superstar Lionel Messi, and Portuguese legend Cristiano Ronaldo, who is not only the most followed athlete but the most followed person on the platform with 585 million.
As the world's most popular sport, it's to be expected that football players dominate the rankings. Of the top 10 most followed accounts, eight of them are footballers, not including retired players.
Former Brazil and Barcelona star Ronaldinho and ex-England captan David Beckham are the eighth and seventh most popular athlete profiles on Instagram despite hanging up their boots several years ago.
Check out the photo gallery above to view the 10 most followed athletes on Instagram. We've only included athletes still active, so Ronaldinho and Beckham have been excluded. The figures are correct as of May 26, 2023. To move on to the next photo, click on the arrows or swipe if using a mobile device.
