Virat Kohli becomes first Indian with 50 million followers on Instagram

What’s the story?

Team India captain Virat Kohli has achieved yet another personal milestone, becoming the first Indian to hit 50 million followers on the social media platform Instagram.

Also see – Women’s Cricket world cup winners list

In case you didn’t know...

Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas is the second-most-followed Indian on Instagram with 49.9 million followers. The third on the list is Deepika Padukone, who has 44.1 million followers. The Prime Minister of India, meanwhile, has 34 million followers.

On a global scale, Cristiano Ronaldo leads the pack with more than 200 million followers. Ronaldo is closely followed by musician Ariana Grande, who has 175 million followers.

The heart of the matter

Besides being the most-followed Indian on Instagram, Virat Kohli also has plenty of other off-field records under his belt. Kohli is India’s most valuable celebrity, and, according to a recent survey by Duff and Phelps, topped the brand valuation list for the third consecutive year.

In 2019, Kohli's value rose by 39 percent to $237.5 million. He is the face of several leading brands and also partnered with Puma to launch his own series of sportswear called One8.

What’s next?

Kohli is currently leading India in New Zealand where the visitors won the T20I series but were whitewashed in the ODI series. The two sides will now face each other in the two-Test series beginning Friday.