Virat Kohli became the first Indian to reach 200 million followers on Instagram
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His bat must be silent but his Instagram isn’t! Virat Kohli became the first cricketer to reach 200 million followers on Instagram on Tuesday, which suggests that even when he is not at the top of his game for Team India and RCB in the IPL recently, his fans across the world continue to be influenced by his legendary status which has seen him become one of the finest batters across the format over the years.
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Kohli, who recorded three golden ducks in the IPL 2022, took time out to thank his fans after reaching the milestone. “200 mil strong Thanks for all your support insta fam,” Kohli said in a short message on the Facebook-owned platform. He, incidentally, also became the third most followed athlete on Instagram surpassing Brazilian talisman Neymar Jr. (175m). Multiple Ballon d’Or holders and footballing greats Cristiano Ronaldo (450m) and Lionel Messi (333m) are the top two most followed athletes on the platform.
Kohli bursted into the scene as a chubby-faced teenager who led India U-19 team to the World Cup triumph in 2008. His cover drivers were pleasing to the eyes and he grew up to be a more disciplined cricketer as he made his foray to the senior team. The boy from Delhi, under the guidance of former India physio Shankar Basu, underwent a rigorous fitness regime to become one of the fittest cricketers across the globe.
Kohli loved chasing in a cricket match and found it a subtle way to accumulate runs and pile misery on the opposition. He took the cricketing world by storm with his sheer timing of the ball and classy stroke-making. His early years in international cricket across formats was so good that he was touted to break his idol Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI and 51 Test hundreds. He also led Team India across formats as captain and was the most successful for the national team in the longest format of the game. Besides that, he also grew as a powerful entity, as he got his way around the coaches and picked up a team of his own liking.
