Virat Kohli becomes first cricketer with 50 million followers on Twitter 

Team India’s star batter Virat Kohli’s popularity on social media has hit another peak as he has reached 50 million followers on Twitter. The 33-year-old has become the first cricketer to achieve the landmark on the microblogging site.

The former Indian captain, who has 211 million Instagram followers, is the most followed cricketer in the world. When it comes to Instagram, he is at No. 3 among sportspersons. Only superstar footballers Cristiano Ronaldo (476 million) and Lionel Messi (356 million) are ahead of him.

Kohli was in the news recently when he smashed his first international hundred since November 2019 during the Asia Cup. Opening the innings in the Super 4 match against Afghanistan, the right-handed batter hammered an unbeaten 122 in 61 balls in Dubai, a knock which featured 12 fours and six sixes.

The Indian batter skipped the tours of West Indies and Zimbabwe after a poor series in England. He returned to international cricket with the Asia Cup 2022. Speaking after breaking his century drought, Kohli admitted that he had been mentally and physically drained but the break helped him regain focus.

Reflecting on his ton against Afghanistan, Kohli praised wife Anushka Sharma and said:

"I know there was a lot of stuff going on outside but they really kept my perspective right and I kissed my ring in the celebrations as well. You see me standing like this right now and all the things being put in perspective have been done by one person, who stood by me through all these difficult times (and) that is Anushka.”

The right-handed batter had an impressive Asia Cup campaign, scoring 276 runs in five matches at an average of 92 and a strike rate of 147.59.

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“He is more skillful than me” - Sourav Ganguly’s high praise for Virat Kohli

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly recently paid a massive compliment to Kohli, stating that he is more skillful of the two. Speaking on the 'Ranveer Show' on YouTube, he stated:

"I don't think that (captaincy) should be the comparison... The comparison should be in terms of skill as a player. I think he is more skillful than me.”

The former India opener also backed Kohli to play more matches than he did during his career. Ganguly added:

"We played in different generations, and we played a lot of cricket. I played in my generation, and he will continue playing, probably playing more games than I did. Currently, I have played more than what he has but he'll get past that. He is tremendous."

Kohli has so far featured in 102 Tests, 262 ODIs and 104 T20Is and has scored 24002 runs with 71 international hundreds.