Indian skipper and run machine Virat Kohli became the first cricketer to hit 100 million followers on Facebook-owned photo and video-sharing social networking platform Instagram. Kohli has joined Juventus striker Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Argentine forward Lionel Messi, Hollywood actor and former pro-wrestler Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson, American singer-songwriter Beyonce, and Ariana Grande in the 100 million club. Kohli is also the fourth most followed sportsperson on Instagram.
Ronaldo tops the chart with 265 million followers, while Barcelona captain Messi and Brazil’s Neymar stand second and third in the list with 186 million, 147 million followers respectively.
Kohli had earlier become the first Asian to reach 75 million followers on Instagram.
Speaking of cricketers, Virat Kohli has more than three times the followers of second-placed MS Dhoni (30.4 million).
Apart from Instagram, Kohli also has a massive fan-following on other social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. As of now, he has 40.8 million followers on Twitter, while has over 36 million likes on Facebook.
As the Indian batsmen hit the new milestone, ICC greeted Kohli with a special post.
Virat Kohli – the first cricket star to hit 100 million followers on Instagram 🎉 pic.twitter.com/HI1hTSbo8M— ICC (@ICC) March 1, 2021
And soon the fans queued up to congratulate the special player and celebrate Kohli’s love for tons.
@imVkohli becomes the first Indian to reach 100 million viratians on Insta..Congrats King Kohli.Love u🖤🖤 Sir..Wrogn guy.. Is here.#100MillionViratiansOnInsta pic.twitter.com/m442CUx9LK— ⚡Adeel Ali⚡ (@imaliadeel) March 2, 2021
Congratulations My Favorite Virat Kohli @imVkohli for reaching #100_Million mark on Instagram and becoming most followed personality from Asia and 4th most followed Athlete in world.. Much more yet to come Caption 💐💐#100MillionViratiansOnInsta #ViratKohli pic.twitter.com/Lob9fnhbsc— Shivansh Shukla (@shivanshu880) March 2, 2021
King Kohli Completing 100 Million Followers On Instagram 😎🔥#100MillionViratiansOnInsta • @imVkohli pic.twitter.com/XWRRvRPh9N— RCB Trends™ (@TrendRCB) March 1, 2021
Virat Kohli Completes 100 Million on Instagram ❤️•Only Indian with 60+ Million Followers•Most Followed Cricketer in the world• Most followed asian.• 4th Most followed athlete
This Man is Hugee ⚡️@imVKohli #100MillionViratiansOnInsta pic.twitter.com/qsUHzSKx4i
— Jay. (@Itxjunu18) March 1, 2021
Recently, Kohli had upstaged Bollywood stars Akshay Kumar and Ranveer to retain the top spot in India’s most-valuable celeb list. According to the Celebrity Brand Valuation Study 2020 by Duff & Phelps, the Indian skipper was reportedly crowned as India’s most valuable celebrity with a brand value of $237.7 million.
(With IANS inputs)