Top 15 Indian Celebrity Sports Influencers To Follow On Instagram
Eyes shut tight and their minds engrossed in deep prayer, their hearts beat loud as they long for victory. Be it cricket, football, basketball, kabaddi, hockey, or any other sport, Indians participate, support and follow up on sporting events and games almost religiously.
Athletes have been role models and influencers for generations. Their talent, commitment to excellence, and passion have inspired millions. In the past, professional athletes had the most influence. But with the rising digital age, even those who don’t sign a lucrative sports contract can have tremendous influence in the sports world. These celebrity sports influencers have become go-to ambassadors for brands for fruitful collaborations, thus giving rise to celebrity influencer marketing as a mainstream marketing strategy. Check out how these top celebrity sports influencers engage with their fans and share recommendations on their favourite brands through their social media handles.
Top 15 Indian Celebrity Sports Influencers To Follow On Instagram:
The first sports influencer is an honourable mention because really the list couldn’t be complete without him. Virat Kohli is an Indian international cricketer and former captain of the India national cricket team. He played for Delhi in domestic cricket and represents Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League as a right-handed batsman.
He is regarded as one of the finest batsmen in the world in all three categories, i.e., One-day, Test Match, and Twenty-20. The number of followers on his social media platforms proves how he has influenced millions of people in India and worldwide.
The way he transformed himself in the past ten years is breathtaking. Virat Kohli is a dynamic player and a great influencer for youngsters aspiring to be cricketers and those who are out of the cricket world.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is an Indian professional cricketer who was captain of the Indian national cricket team in limited-overs formats from 2007 to 2017 and in Test cricket from 2008 to 2014. He is a right-handed wicket-keeper batsman.
A Sportsperson from Ranchi, Jharkhand, India, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a famous personality and a former skipper of the Indian Cricket Team. Under his leadership, India won its World Cup after twenty-eight years and the twenty-20 World Cup too.
M. S. Dhoni is not only an inspiration for the common people but also for the budding cricketers and those who are playing alongside either from India or Internationally. His leadership skills and calm posture have earned him the title of ‘Captain Cool,’ and finishing the innings has given him the title ‘Finisher of the Game.’
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket.
He has received one of the highest Indian Civilian awards, i.e., Bharat Ratna in 2014, and is a Member of Rajya Sabha. Sachin Tendulkar has spent twenty-four years in International Cricket and made several records that are still unbreakable. Tendulkar is followed by several people nationwide and internationally.
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is the little master of cricket after Sir Don Bradman. He is something like Pele to football, Ali to boxing, and Jordan to Basketball. The God of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, is a legendary figure in Cricket sports, whom everyone admires.
Rohit Gurunath Sharma is an Indian international cricketer who is the current captain of the Indian national team. A right-handed opening batsman and an occasional right-arm off-break bowler, he is widely acknowledged as one of the most outstanding batsmen of all time in limited-overs cricket.
Rohit Sharma is undoubtedly the cleanest hitter of a cricket ball you will ever see. Nothing can be as pleasing as the sight of the ‘Hitman’ striking the ball over the covers. Rohit Sharma is the current vice-captain of the Indian Cricket Team in the limited-overs.
Rohit is also the captain of the IPL team Mumbai Indians. Sharma currently holds the record for the highest individual score in One Day Internationals. He scored a record 264 off 173 balls against Srilanka on November 13, 2014. This Indian celebrity sports influencer is also the only player to score two double centuries in One Day Internationals. He is also the only person to score 250+ in ODI innings.
Hardik Himanshu Pandya is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian national cricket team at the international level and the Baroda cricket team domestically.
Pandya debuted in first-class cricket for Baroda in 2013. In the 2013–14 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Hardik played a vital role in Baroda’s victorious campaign. In the 2016 finals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Hardik played an unbeaten knock of 86 to guide the Baroda cricket team to a six-wicket win over Vidarbha cricket.
Hardik Pandya is the perfect modern-day cricketer. He can strike the ball big, roll his arm over decently and is a livewire in the field. It is a combination of skills India has long waited for since the retirement of Kapil Dev. India will wish that Pandya keeps working on his game and ends the country’s search for a seam-bowling all-rounder.
Kannaur Lokesh Rahul is an Indian cricketer who currently is the vice-captain of the India national team in all formats. He plays for Karnataka in domestic cricket. He is the current captain of Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League.
Rahul started playing first-class cricket for Karnataka in the 2010-11 season. The same year he represented India in the ICC Under 19 World Cup. He started his IPL career in 2013 with Royal Challengers Bangalore. His domestic performance got him a call-up for the national Test team in 2014 and two years later, in the ODI team.
KL Rahul became the first batsman from Karnataka to score a triple century in the Ranji Trophy. He also became the first Indian batsman to score a century on his ODI debut in 2016. The same year he scored the fastest century in T20 by an Indian. He scored the century off 46 balls in what was a losing cause.
He is also the only batsman to score a hundred in the first innings as an opener in both ODIs and Tests. In 2017, Rahul became the fastest batsman to have scored centuries in all three formats in international cricket. He achieved this feat in just 20 innings. Rahul also holds the record of scoring the fastest ever half-century in IPL. He is also the only batsman to reach 100 with a six in all formats.
Shikhar Dhawan is an Indian international cricketer. Being a left-handed opening batsman and an occasional right-arm off-break bowler, he plays for Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League and Delhi in first-class cricket.
After a string of excellent domestic performances, he was handed an India debut against Australia in 2010. He scored a duck and made no significant contributions for a while, as he continued to be the quintessential replacement player in the side. However, given the controversial axing of Virender Sehwag after the second Test, Dhawan was handed the desirable India Test cap to make his debut against the Australians in March 2013.
He had a start that he wouldn’t have imagined in his wildest dreams as he raced away to the fastest ever hundred on debut off just 85 balls, and was finally dismissed for a boundary-filled 187.
Dhawan continued to remain India’s go-to man in ODIs and delivered another fine performance in an ICC event, making him a specialist for the biggest stage in the limited-overs format. Despite his limitations, his carefree attitude and his explosive off-side shots, one can’t help but draw comparisons with another maverick opener from Delhi.
The ability to peak during ICC events makes this celebrity sports influencer in India an almost indispensable asset to the side in limited-overs cricket – a rather theatrical oddity in his career with the utopian twist of opportune comebacks.
In an Indian team desperately searching for a death overs bowler, Jasprit Bumrah came to the fore through the Indian Premier League, as a boon for cricket in the country. The scantily-built pacer from Gujarat has managed to perfect the art of bowling inch-perfect yorkers as an understudy to Lasith Malinga as a part of the Mumbai Indians franchise and has grown into an indispensable asset for the Indian team in the limited-overs format.
Having been a consistent performer in the domestic circuit, Bumrah has been a menace to the batsmen at the Ranji level since his debut. His quick-arm action has made his variations almost indiscernible – starting from his slower deliveries to his reverse-swinging yorkers at the death. An injury kept him out of action for a while in the 2014/15 seasons but he returned and continued to perform unaffected by the injury break. A national call-up seemed to be just around the corner.
Bumrah built his reputation by being different. A short run-up followed by a snappy bowling action with his arms rigid as bones, where it seems like everything could go wrong, right up until the point when it doesn’t. His reliability is what surprisingly started to stand out amid the mayhem of the IPL. Under the guidance of a death-bowling expert like Lasith Malinga, Bumrah flourished. He made his debut in the 2013 edition of the competition, where he barely got much game time, but would quickly go on to become a regular in the MI playing eleven in the seasons to follow, surprising batsmen with the pace he generated off his wrist.
Smriti Shriniwas Mandhana is an Indian cricketer who plays for the Indian women’s national team. In June 2018, the Board of Control for Cricket in India named her ‘the Best Women’s International Cricketer’.
Smriti Shriniwas Mandhana hails from Mumbai and is an Indian Cricketer who plays for the Indian Women’s national team. Today’s young girls, even women, look at her as an inspiration and admire her for her achievements. Many of them want to become like her someday.
She, as a sportsperson, received various awards for her outstanding performance on the field. Smriti Mandhana was awarded the Arjuna Award for Cricket by the Government of India and ODI player of the year by ICC 2018, with several other awards.
Subedar Neeraj Chopra PVSM VSM is an Indian track and field athlete who is the reigning Olympic champion in the javelin throw. A Junior Commissioned Officer in the Indian Army, Chopra is the first track and field athlete to win a gold medal for India at the Olympics
He received the Arjuna Award in 2018, Vishisht Seva Medal in 2020, Khel Ratna Award in 2021, Param Vishisht Seva Medal in 2022, and Padma Shri in 2022. He hails from Haryana and is a Junior Commissioned Officer in Indian Army. Neeraj Chopra has also won IAAF World U20 Championships 2016 and a gold medal in Asian Games 2018.
Neeraj Chopra made history in 2021 by winning India’s first-ever gold medal in athletics at the Tokyo Olympics. Needless to say, he is an inspiration to every sports enthusiast in India. He believes “hard work and effort have no substitutes.” And, we think, it’s this ethos that has landed him collaborations with several fitness brands, such as Muscle Blaze.
Thakur Anoop Singh is an Indian actor. He played Dhritarashtra in the 2013 TV series Mahabharat. In 2015 he won a gold medal in a bodybuilding contest in Bangkok, Thailand.
Thakur Anoop Singh is a famous Indian celebrity who has worked in several Tollywood movies. He won a gold medal at the 7thWBPF World Bodybuilding Championship in Thailand, a bronze medal in the 49thAsian Championship in Uzbekistan in 2015, and silver in Fit Factor – Mr India 2015. With his followers on Instagram, he shares his gym routine and motivates them to stay on the fitness track.
Geeta Phogat is a freestyle wrestler from Haryana, India. She is quite popular among sports enthusiasts.
She is the first-ever Indian to win the gold medal in wrestling at the Commonwealth Games in 2010 and the first to qualify for the Olympic Summer Games. Geeta Phogat was awarded the Arjuna Award for wrestling by the Government of India and also won several other laurels.
She is the only female wrestler from India to enter the Olympic Summer Games. A strong advocate of women’s empowerment, her content focuses on gym sessions and family life. And, oh, we loved her workout challenge of lifting heavy weights with an injured leg.
Mary Kom is not an ordinary name; she’s one of the boxing legends from India. Mary Kom hails from Manipur, a small northeast state in India, and is a mother to four kids, and still continuing her boxing career. Mary Kom is a six-time world champion to whom novice boxers look as an inspiration. Indian athletes like Neeraj Chopra, Atanu Das, Sundar Singh, and more are inspired by her determination and grit.
A professional boxer from India, this Indian celebrity sports influencer is the only woman to win the World Amateur Boxing Championship 6 times. And she is the only female boxer to win a medal in all seven World Championships.
Her Instagram is a place of motivation for women who want to enter the boxing field and break stereotypes. If you’re looking for content ideas, remix one of Mary Kom’s Reels by recreating her boxing moves. Or simply follow her for her workout sessions on how to become fit.
Shweta Rathore is an international physique Athlete. She is the first female from India who won a medal in the world championship. She won the 49thAsian championship.
Another strong sports influencer who breaks all the stereotypes on social media is Shweta Rathore. She is the first Indian woman to bag a medal at the Fitness Physique World Championships.
The founder of Fitness Forever, her workout sessions are truly inspirational, and that’s saying something since most of us tend to be allergic to anything fitness or health. If you’re looking for content on how to exercise the right way with the right form, Shweta is your answer.
Rani Rampal is an Indian field hockey player. At the age of 15, she was the youngest player in the national team which participated in the 2010 World Cup. She has completed her schooling but was not able to get the graduate degree due to practice sessions and matches which were lined up. She plays forward on her team.
The captain of the Indian women’s hockey team, under Rani’s aegis, the team reached the Olympics semi-finals for the first time. Besides being the best captain of the women’s hockey team, she is also a fitness enthusiast. Her Instagram Reels are filled with gym videos and workout sessions that talk about fitness tips, motivation, and a lot more.
She is known as the striker who also doubles up as a midfielder when needed. Under her captaincy, for the first time in history, India reached the semifinal of the Tokyo Olympics 2020. Rani Rampal was also a part of the Indian Hockey team that qualified for the Rio Olympics 2016. This Indian celebrity sports influencer has received Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna 2020 and Padma Shri 2020 awards.
Conclusion
The names mentioned above are those whose stories will motivate the youngsters and influence them to do great works in a particular stream. India has produced countless biggest sportspeople who have contributed to bringing glory to the country. Besides our list of top 15 celebrity sports influencers, there are countless other names who have been an inspiration for Indians. The sports personnel are followed and treated as inspirations and idols to become like one day. Besides inspiring the youth, these celebrity sports influencers also enjoy considerable sway in shaping the decisions of their fans.
Brands have been using celebrity influencer marketing to enjoy a significant share of loyal audiences in the market. Confluencr, being India’s largest influencer marketing agency realizes the potential of celebrity influencer marketing for brands, and has curated a network of influencers belonging to different niches across the globe. Want to know how influencer marketing can help your brand? Write to us at [email protected] and we shall get right in touch with you!
