Legendary American quarterback Tom Brady is also quite the maverick at a quiz. The seven-time Super Bowl champion surprised a panel of football legends by correctly identifying the Indian cricket icon Virat Kohli as Instagram’s third most-followed athlete behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Appearing on broadcaster ITV7’s “Stick to Football” podcast, Brady, alongside England football legends Gary Neville, Roy Keane and Ian Wright, was challenged to name the athletes with the highest follower counts on Instagram.
The quartet quickly identified Ronaldo and Messi as the top two and basketball superstar LeBron James as fifth, before running into a mental block. Michael Jordan’s name was floated, but Brady batted it away (Jordan does not have a personal Instagram account, but a singular handle for his Jumpman brand).
It was at this moment that Brady came up trumps, casually interjecting, “Virat Kohli, the cricketer from India.” Indeed, the former Indian captain slotted into the number three spot.
Brady’s instant recognition of the 35-year-old batter surprised those around the table, but it is only to be expected given his awareness of media and athlete branding. Since his retirement, he has invested his wealth in several sporting franchises and associated ventures.
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It also reiterated how far Kohli’s global profile goes. He is deified in India, commands a larger digital following than LeBron James, Tiger Woods, and Brady himself, combined, and is by far the highest-profile cricketer in the world.
Even so, Brady could not help but marvel at the gap between Messi in second place and Kohli in third, with a disparity of almost 230 million followers between them. Messi himself is 158 million followers shy of Ronaldo. The top two operate in a class of their own.
In fourth place after Kohli is another footballer, the Brazilian magician Neymar Jr, with 236 million followers. LeBron James and Kylian Mbappe rank 5th and 6th with 154 million and 130 million followers, respectively.
When factoring in non-athletes, Kohli is the 14th most followed Instagram account. Other Indians in the top 50 are Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ranked 40th, and actresses Shraddha Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Alia Bhatt in 42nd, 43rd and 50th, respectively.
Top seven most followed athletes on Instagram, as correctly guessed by Tom Brady and Co.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo – 666m
2. Lionel Messi – 508m
3. Virat Kohli – 273m
4. Neymar Jr. – 236m
5. LeBron James – 154m
6. Kylian Mbappe – 130m
7. David Beckham – 87m
