I recently watched a video on YouTube of Joe Rogan & Will Harris reacting to the fact that Virat Kohli has more followers on Instagram than LeBron James. This shows how popular some cricket players are, especially the ones from India, so we at Bet Central look at the 10 most followed cricket players on Instagram.
This list includes players who are still active and those that have retired from the game.
1. Virat Kohli (237 Million)
It’s no surprise to see that Virat Kohli is the most followed cricket player on Instagram. The former Indian captain has been cricket’s most popular and best player in the past 10 years. He’s broken all sorts of records and at just 34, he’ll most certainly break a few more.
2. MS Dhoni (40.5 Million)
This list is dominated by former and current Indian captains, including “Captain Cool” MS Dhoni. He’s a long way behind Kohli but 40.5 million IG followers is a huge number. He still remains the only captain in cricketing history to win the ICC World Cup, Champions Trophy, and ICC T20 World Cup.
3. Sachin Tendulkar (38.8 Million)
Most people’s greatest cricketer and batsman of all time is third on this list which comes as no surprise. The “Little Master” featured in 200 Test matches and has no fewer than 100 international centuries in all formats.
4. Rohit Sharma (26.6 Million)
India’s current all-format captain Rohit Sharma is the cricketer with the fourth-most followers on Instagram. At 35, he’s still at the top of his game and will be eager to lead India to another World Cup triumph on home soil later this year. Rohit is the only player to have scored three double-centuries in ODIs and also holds the record for most runs in an ODI match (264).
5. Hardik Pandya (24.9 Million)
Perhaps a more surprising player on this list is India’s all-rounder Hardik Pandya. He only recently revived his career after going through a rough patch where he suffered a lot of injuries which affected his performance. Hardik leading Gujarat Titans to their first IPL trophy last year is proof that his career is once again on the up.
6. Suresh Raina (22.6 Million)
This list is dominated by Indian players past and present, with MS Dhoni’s former CSK teammate, Suresh Raina coming in at number six. Raina played 226 ODI for his country, scoring 5615 with 5 hundreds and 36 fifties.
7. AB de Villiers (20.5 Million)
Enter “Mr 360”, the only non-Indian player on this list with 20.5 Million Instagram followers. AB de Villiers is popular all over the world but it’s no secret that his performance for RCB in the IPL has boosted his IG following, not to mention how much Indian cricket fans adore him.
8. Yuvraj Singh (16.5 Million)
Many will remember Yuvraj Singh as the guy who hit Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over in the 2007 World Cup in South Africa. He was a key all-rounder for India for many years
9. KL Rahul (13.7 Million)
A polarizing figure when it comes to Indian supporters KL Rahul is the ninth most followed cricketer on Instagram with 13.7 followers. You can argue that he’s yet to fulfil his potential hence why many Indian supporters are yet to be convinced by the 30-year-old.
10. Shikhar Dhawan (13.1 Million)
The 37-year-old comes in at number 10 on our list. He’s gone from a player who used to represent his country in all formats to only being selected for the ODI side. It looks like his time as in the Indian side is coming to an end but his performances