Aug 13 (News18) – Cricket in India is like a religion and cricketers from our nation are treated no less than celebrities. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that former Indian captain Virat Kohli is the highest-earning Indian on Instagram.
According to a recent report, Kohli rakes in a staggering sum of INR 11.45 crore from every post of his on the photo-sharing app. Even then, Kohli stood 14 on the list of the highest-earning celebrities on Instagram with star footballer Cristiano Ronaldo leading the list.
The Portuguese striker has the most followers on the Meta-owned app and therefore it comes as little surprise that he pipped fellow superstar Lionel Messi to first place.
According to a report from Hopper HQ, Ronaldo and Messi are followed by Hollywood superstar Selena Gomez. Kohli is the only Indian in the top 20 list for 2023.
According to the same report, Ronaldo commands a massive fee of USD 3.23 million for every sponsored post, which roughly translates to INR 26.75 crore. His eternal rival Messi, who came in second place earns USD 2.56 million per Instagram post which translates to INR 21.49 crore.
Kohli meanwhile commands a fee of USD 1.38 million per post, and the star cricketer has a huge army of 256 million followers on the platform.
The 34-year-old is currently on a break having been rested by the BCCI ahead of the Asia Cup 2023 which is set to start from August 2. India are set to kick-start their campaign with a meeting against arch-rivals Pakistan on September 2.
The last time India squared off against Pakistan it was in the T20 World Cup 2022, wherein Kohli’s knock had guided India to a comeback win. The star batter has been in scintillating form in 2023, he finished among the top run scorers in IPL 2023 and he will be looking to carry forward that momentum to the Asia Cup, as well as the ODI World Cup 2023 which will be held on Indian shores from October 5 to November 19.
