Virat Kohli on Monday became the first Indian to cross 100 million followers on Instagram. The right-handed batsman is also the first cricketer in the world to achieve the landmark and the International Cricket Council (ICC) took to the social media site to welcome Kohli into an elite club that features football stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Neymar, among other celebrities.
Virat Kohli has managed to beat the likes of actors Priyanka Chopra (60.8 million), Shraddha Kapoor (58.1 million), Deepika Padukone (53.3 million), Alia Bhatt (51 million) and Akshay Kumar (48.3 million) to reach the 100 million milestone.
The Indian cricket team captain is the only cricketer in the world’s top-10 highest-earning sportspersons through sponsored posts on Instagram.
Kohli is at No.6 in the list headed by Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, who has earned the most through Instagram posts during the lockdown period between March 12 and May 14 according to data collected by ‘Attain’.
According to the Hopper HQ’s list, Kohli made $296,000 (‘2.2 crore approximately) per post in 2020 and was the only Indian besides Priyanka Chopra to feature on the Instagram Rich List. Chopra was placed two spots behind Kohli at 28th as she made $289,000 per post last year.
Kohli is presently part of the Indian Tet squad in Ahmedabad, gearing up for the fourth and final Test against England. India presently lead the series 2-1 and need at least a draw to ensure their chances of reaching the World Test Championship final.
