Last Updated: March 27, 2024, 20:03 IST
Kohli became the first Indian to reach 250 million Instagram followers in 2023. (Photo Credits: Instagram)
The 35-year-old has 268 million Instagram followers, which makes him the most-followed cricketer in the world and the third-most-followed sportsperson on the platform.
Virat Kohli is undeniably one of the most popular sports personalities not just in India but around the world. The former India skipper has earned numerous accolades since his debut in 2008 in ODI format. In addition to a string of honours and widespread popularity, King Kohli also has a significant online presence, which he uses to stay in touch with fans and promote sponsored endorsements.
The 35-year-old has 268 million Instagram followers, which makes him the most-followed cricketer in the world and the third-most-followed sportsperson on the platform. He is only behind footballers Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. In May last year, he became the first Indian to reach 250 million Instagram followers. Now, a Kohli fan shared a series of X posts that chronicled the India great’s Instagram updates over the years.
The X post showed how Kohli’s initial posts on Instagram solely consisted of his selfies. Slowly his pictures showed him posing from international locations, where team India played matches. A few of his selfies feature his fellow teammates. Kohli also posted many selfies with his pet dog Bruno, who passed away in 2020 after being in the Kohli household for 11 years.
The posts featured how Kohli started posting pictures with his wife Anushka Sharma with more frequency after the couple got married in 2017 at a picturesque wedding in Tuscany. With time, one can see the grainy phone photos on Kohli’s Instagram morphing into much more polished and posed photographs. As he grew in career, Kohli began sharing a series of sponsored endorsement posts on Instagram.
This X post got over 1.2 million views since it was posted on March 26. Many fans commented on their observations about Kohli’s Instagram ‘evolution’. An X user observed that he still takes selfies from the same angle and wrote, “There’s not much difference in his solo selfie genres btw.” Someone remarked, “All pictures with Anushka are so wholesome.” People also commented on the frequency of the sponsored ads on his feed. One X user wrote, “From fun posts to advertisements”.
While I am grateful and indebted to all that I’ve received in life, the news that has been making rounds about my social media earnings is not true. — Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) August 12, 2023
Last year in August, a report called ‘Instagram Rich List 2023’ which was made by Instagram scheduling tool Hopper HQ, claimed that Kohli earns Rs 11 crore for a single sponsored Instagram post. In response, Kohli denied this estimate and wrote, “While I am grateful and indebted to all that I’ve received in life, the news that has been making rounds about my social media earnings is not true.”