Virat Kohli the most-mentioned male Indian athlete on Twitter in 2020

Virat Kohli, the skipper of the Indian cricket team, has a massive fanbase across the globe. His fandom can be comprehended from the number of followers he has on Twitter and Instagram. Since his debut in 2008, the right-hander has flourished in all three formats and is being placed in the list of all-time greats. The 32-year-old has over 22,000 runs with as many as 70 centuries.

He didn’t have any cricket to play from March to the mid of September when the COVID-19 pandemic was wreaking havoc and cricket tournaments around the world came to a halt. Yet, the Delhi-born was able to stay connected to his fans and followers through his posts on social media. He also came on Instagram Live with former South African cricketer AB de Villiers.

Virat Kohli ruling the roost on Twitter

As per reports by Twitter India, Kohli was the most mentioned Indian sportsperson in 2020 on the micro-blogging site. From making his fans aware of the need to follow the directives set by the government in the pandemic to sharing romantic and adorable moments with wife Anushka Sharma, Kohli never went off the radar as far as his social media engagement was concerned.

After Virat followed Rohit Sharma, the Indian ODI and T20I vice-captain, and MS Dhoni, the former Indian cricketer. Back on August 15, 2020, Dhoni retired from all forms of cricket and Twitterati went into a frenzy. Even when the 39-year-old turned out for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the netizens on Twitter showered praises on the veteran.

Apart from Twitter, Kohli also became the highest-ranked Indian in the list of top 25 global Instagram Influencers. He occupied the 11th spot even as Anushka, his better-half, was slotted at number 24. In the meantime, wrestler Geeta Phogat was the most mentioned female sportsperson on Twitter. Leaving aside cricket, basketball, football, and F1 racing were the three talked-about sports in 2020.

In hashtags, IPL 2020 and WhistlePodu did the rounds and were most talked about. The IPL took place from September 19 to November 10 after the tournament had to be postponed from March for an indefinite time period. WhistlePodu showed that CSK were the most followed team in the T20 league.