In the modern era, the stardom of a sportsperson isn’t confined to just playfields. The evolution of social media has allowed fans to follow their favourite athletes closely. Different platforms keep them posted about what their favourite stars do when they aren’t on national duties.
Over the years, the followership of the athletes, especially cricketers in India has skyrocketed. On Wednesday, ace batter and former India captain Virat Kohli became the first Indian ever to get 200 million followers on Instagram. He’s now the third most-followed athlete, after star footballers Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, across the world and the first Indian cricketer to have 200 million followers on this platform.
Since Kohli achieved a massive feat on Instagram, let’s have a look at the next four cricketers who have the most followers:
MS Dhoni: After Virat Kohli, it’s none other than former captain and legendary wicketkeeper-batter MS Dhoni. He may have drawn curtains on his international career back in 2020 but his followers are growing every day. Since his retirement, the fans eagerly wait for the Indian Premier League (IPL) every year to watch their favourite superstar in action. Though he isn’t that active on social media platforms, he still has a fanbase of 88.6 million on Instagram.
Sachin Tendulkar: Next on the list is Sachin Tendulkar who is considered the ‘God of Indian cricket’. After hanging up his boots in 2013, the master blaster keeps on interacting with his fans through several social media platforms and Instagram is one of them. He keeps sharing videos, pictures and even does lives to interact with his loyal supporters. Currently, he is being followed by 34.7 million people on Instagram.
Rohit Sharma: Indian captain Rohit Sharma is in the fourth spot. Hitman often engages with fans courtesy of his funny and quirky posts, sharing pictures from training and quality time with family members. He has 24 million followers on Instagram.
Hardik Pandya: The dynamic all-rounder recently exhibited the 2.0 version of himself in the IPL 2022. He scored more than 480 runs, registered his best T20 bowling figures in the final and then, clinched the maiden title. It was a great season for Pandya which also led to an increase in the number of his followers. Currently, he has 21.5 million followers on his official Instagram account.
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