Former New Zealand batter Ross Taylor reckons Virat Kohli is up there with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as far as social media influence is concerned. Kohli has a huge fan following of 269 million on Instagram.

While Cristiano Ronaldo is the most followed sportsperson on Instagram as he has 630 million followers, Lionel Messi has 503 million Instagram followers.

Kohli promotes a plethora of brands on his social media accounts and has a lot of partnerships with top companies.

Ross Taylor said on 180 not out podcast, “Players are putting outposts endorsing products and things like that. Who would have thought of that in 2008? Someone like Kohli, who is a superstar in the world of cricket, but is also a global superstar in the world of sports. In terms of Instagram and social media, he’s up there with Ronaldo and Messi!”

Meanwhile, former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar recently praised Virat Kohli for lifting his T20 game. Manjrekar believes Kohli is currently a better T20 batter than he was two years ago.

“It’s worth acknowledging that Virat is not the same T20 player he was two years ago. He must know deep down, surely, that the ‘outside noise’ has actually made him a better T20 batter today than he was two years ago.”

Virat Kohli was once again at his absolute best for RCB, scoring 741 runs in 15 innings at an average of 61.75 and a strike rate of 154.69 in IPL 2024. He ended the tournament as the highest run-getter and played a key role in taking RCB to the playoffs. 

Kohli will be seen in action in the upcoming T20 World Cup. India will begin their T20I showpiece campaign against Ireland on June 5th.