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It’s a powerful social media tool but which cricketers have harnessed Instagram the best? Here is a round up of the players with the most followers.
Who is the Most Followed Cricketer on Instagram?
As of early 2025, India’s Virat Kohli is the player with the most followers on Instagram. The former captain of the national team is at the very top with an incredible 266 million followers.
Cricket fans all over the world have helped to put Virat at the very top of the list.
10 Most Followed Cricketers on Instagram
Virat Kohli – 266M followers
When you look at how far away the other players are, it puts Virat Kohli’s achievements into some context. 266 million followers on Instagram is a scarcely believable number, and it is made up from supporters of India, Royal Challengers Bangalore and cricket in general. The list continues to grow and when I first wrote this article in October 2022, he had 217 million followers, so that’s an increase of 49 million in just over two years.
He’s not just there on reputation alone: Virat provides an entertaining and active account with lots of updates.
MS Dhoni – 46.7M followers
India’s inspirational leader for many years, MS Dhoni finds himself in second place on this list. He’s a long way behind Virat Kohli, but 25.7 million followers is a significant amount by anyone’s standards.
He’s recently retired from international cricket, but he remained active in the IPL as of 20242. Dhoni’s legion of Chennai Super Kings fans have helped to boost his numbers.
Sachin Tendulkar – 42.7M followers
He may have retired from the game but the great Sachin Tendulkar still maintains a healthy Instagram account. That’s not exactly a shock considering his brilliant career which featured 200 test matches and no fewer than 100 international centuries in all formats.
In fact, the only real surprise here is that Sachin’s number of 42.7 million followers isn’t even bigger, but it continues to increase, and he may yet overtake MS Dhoni and climb into second place.
Rohit Sharma – 35.5M followers
The current captain of India has some work to do if he is to catch up with his predecessor Virat Kohli. Despite the difference between the two, Rohit Sharma’s list of 35.5 million followers on Instagram is still an impressive figure.
While he’s still involved in cricket, and proving himself as one of India’s greatest ever batsmen, Rohit’s figures should continue to climb. He is, however, at the veteran stages of his career, and time is running out if he wants to catch those at the top.
Hardik Pandya – 28.6M followers
In contrast to his international captain, all rounder Hardik Pandya’s India career should now be at its peak. After a spell out of the national set up, he rediscovered his form while leading the Gujarat Titans to their first win in the 2022 IPL.
Based on that victory, and his subsequent return to Mumbai Indians, Hardik Pandya’s list of Instagram followers has swelled to 28.6 million, and there’s plenty of time to add more.
Suresh Raina – 26.8M followers
A team mate of MS Dhoni at CSK for many years, Suresh Raina was an important member of the team. While his colleagues may have enjoyed a higher profile, Raina went quietly about his job.
The left hander was a big accumulator of runs and was also one of the best fielders in the IPL. He may have headed towards retirement, but that list of 21.5 million Instagram followers underlines his enduring popularity.
AB De Villiers – 24.3M followers
While he may be the only player from outside of the country to feature on this list, AB De Villiers is fondly remembered in India as a key player for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL.
He’s popular all over the world, but there’s no doubt that his performances for RCB have helped to boost his Instagram following to 24.3 million.
Yuvraj Singh – 19.4M followers
Yuvraj Singh was a key all rounder for India for many years. He achieved global notoriety when he hit Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over during a T20 international.
Yuvi could sometimes be a controversial figure but, in terms of social media, that isn’t always a bad thing. It would have certainly helped to build his Instagram following up to an impressive total of 19.4 million.
KL Rahul – 18.8M followers
There’s been a battle to become India’s recognised opener in all three formats, and KL Rahul appears to be winning it. After a period of injury, Rahul is back in the squad and looking to stay there.
He has 18.8 million Instagram followers at the time of writing, but he’s another player with time to add to his list.
Shikhar Dhawan – 17.4M followers
Shikhar Dhawan can still be effective in limited overs cricket. His time as an Indian international may be at an end, but he is talented enough to return to the IPL if he ever wants to.
As a powerful and stylish opening batter, Dhawan has an army of fans beyond India, and that’s helped to boost his Instagram following to 17.4 million.
The Power of Social Media
There are a number of changes and interesting points to note from when I first wrote this article in 2022. I’ve kept the original conclusion below which underlines the fact that nine players in the Top Ten are from India. The only outlier, South Africa’s AB De Villiers, became a hero in the IPL during his time with Royal Challengers Bangalore.
There is an old, and fairly tired saying that cricket is a religion in India, but these figures tend to back up that theory.
Another interesting point is that a number of these players have retired. Their playing days may be over, but their popularity isn’t slowing down. As long as they stay active on Instagram, the fans will keep coming.
Finally, I was expecting the Top Ten to have altered, but there were no changes at all. The order was the same, and no cricketers had managed to climb up into the list. There was, however, a rise in followers of several million for each player in just over two years.
So, the challenge remains for current players to break into the Top Ten. There are some big names in the game, but surely some of today’s heroes will disrupt the list moving forward?
Conclusion
I’m not surprised to see Indian players dominate this list. The fans inside the country are fanatical about their cricket, and the best players are treated as true heroes.
Social media platforms are also huge in India as followers are keen to interact with the latest posts. As with all round ups of this kind, it will also be interesting to see how the numbers build and whether any players can break into this list moving forward.
