Top 10 Most Famous Cricketer in the World - Ranked

Multiple sports are played around the world, but when it comes to India, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that the most popular is Cricket. Whether it’s kids, young people, or old citizens, Cricket runs in everyone’s veins in India. The love for the sport in India is known to everyone, as there are multiple instances where sportspersons from other countries acknowledge the power of Indian Cricket and their fans. Cricket has also produced some great players who have earned a huge fan base across the world. Many players have been loved in other countries apart from their own. It won’t be wrong to say that franchise cricket, especially the Indian Premier League (IPL), has played a huge role in it.

But there are multiple factors on which the popularity of the cricketers is based. Factors like social media followers, their achievements and their stats and numbers throughout their careers should be considered to get the answer to the question of who is the most fan-following cricketer in the world.

Many players have loyal fans around the world, but aren’t very active on social media, which is why they don’t have a great number of followers. However, that doesn’t mean they aren’t popular; their one appearance could be enough to make a bunch of the crowd go crazy. We’ll talk about those players in the article, but before that, let’s understand the factors that would decide these players’ popularity.

Ranking Factors

The ranking should be based on specific and universal factors so that all the famous cricketers are ranked fairly. Here is the list of the factors on which the ranking has been done.

• Social Media followers and Career stats: In the modern era of cricket, social media has become one of the most important parts of the players’ lives. It helps them gain a huge fan following. Some players have made it to several lists of social media followers across all sports combined.
• Brand endorsements: Brand endorsement is another way to determine the popularity of a player. The player's brand endorsements depend on their popularity on social media and other platforms, and also tells about his success.

However, apart from their social media reach, their career stats also play a huge part in their popularity. The better a player performs, the better his popularity gets, and that, too, is all over the world. Players like Sachin Tendulkar, Shane Warne, AB de Villiers, and others are prime examples of this.

Who is the Most Fan Following Cricketer in World?

When the question is about the most fan-following cricketer in the world, there is no one close to former Indian captain Virat Kohli. Thanks to his massive social media presence, with over 270 million Instagram followers alone, Kohli is the most fan base cricketer in the world. Playing for India since 2008, he’s known for his aggressive batting, fitness, and passion for cricket. Even fans across the globe, including India, Australia, Pakistan, etc., and wherever he goes, fans love him for his never-give-up attitude and ability to chase big scores.

Virat has the craziest fan following. People often come in numbers just to see him live in the stadium. No other cricketer today matches Virat’s social media reach and his fan following. If he has a huge fan following, it also brings an equal amount of pressure with it. Kohli plays for RCB and India, two sides which are the most popular cricket team in the world. As a result, he is easily the most famous cricketer in the world currently.

Who is the Most Popular Cricketer in the World of All Time?

The List of the Top 10 most popular cricketer in the world of all time is a ranking of cricket players who have won the hearts of fans wherever they played. Players get this love not just for their cricketing skills but also for their friendly personality, sportsman spirit, fair play, and how they treat their fans. Some players like Sachin Tendulkar never argued with the umpire even after declaring him out, when he wasn't out, that's the reason he is the most popular cricketer in the world of all time. The God of Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, was meant to be number one in this list for the most popular cricketer in the world of all time, as he ticks all the possible boxes one could think of, be it his on-field class or his off-field charisma.

Who is the Most Famous Cricketer in the World?

There are a bunch of players who could be eligible to be on the list of the most famous cricketer in the world, but only a handful of these players have been picked based on the above-mentioned ranking criteria. India, as a nation, has an unreal love towards the game, and that is the reason why some of the Indian players are almost worshipped due to the countless happiness they bring to a massive number of people. Having said that, this is predominantly the reason that this list is also mainly dominated by Indian players. The Top 10 most famous cricketer are as follows:

10. Ben Stokes | England

England’s Test captain, Ben Stokes, is an astounding player in the format. Lately, he has been away from cricket due to injuries, but the player was just out of this world with his batting and bowling performance. Undoubtedly, one of the famous cricket players and best all-rounders England has ever had in their history. He has played in 267 games and scored 10767 runs at an average of 35.89.

Well, this isn’t it. He has also taken 310 wickets at an average of 34.80. The player won a thrilling game against Australia in the Ashes a few years ago. Every cricket fan remembers those innings because of the way he carried the game single-handedly and won it in the end. Despite England’s poor performance in cricket, Stokes has always stood out because of his stats. Moreover, when it comes to social media, the player has more than 2.9 million followers on Instagram, which makes him one of the most famous cricketer in the world.

9. Kane Williamson | New Zealand

The former captain of the New Zealand cricket team, Kane Williamson, is one of the calmest and most innocent players in the game. Fans often love to see the aggressive side of players because of the entertainment factor, but it’s not the same case with every player, and former India skipper MS Dhoni is a prime example of it.

Kane Williamson is also one of those guys who have always remained calm on and off the field. Fans also love his innocence and cool nature, which is one of the reasons behind his fan following around the world. Williamson has more than 3.2M followers on Instagram, but he is not on Twitter

There are rarely any fans in the world who hate Williamson, even though he has played some heartbreaking knocks against some big cricket-playing nations. Williamson has taken New Zealand to the finals of the ODI World Cup 2019 and T20 World Cup 2021, but faced defeat, and the opponents were Australia both times. However, he led New Zealand to a historic win against India in the WTC final in 2021.

8. Babar Azam | Pakistan

Pakistan’s Babar Azam is the former captain of the team who was a part of the Champions Trophy 2017 winning side. When it comes to popularity, Babar has 5.7 million followers on Instagram. Despite being trolled most of the time, the right-handed batter has played well and scored enough runs in the past.

If we look at his stats, he has played 315 games and scored 14564 runs at an average of 46.23. Moreover, in the ODIs, he is a brilliant player. However, he is going through a rough patch and is struggling hard to get out of it. He hasn’t scored a century in a long time now and is under scrutiny for his form.

7. Rishabh Pant | India

India’s Rishabh Pant is one of the most popular cricketer in the world. He came to light after his heroic innings at the Gabba in 2021, helping India beat Australia on their home ground. After that, he became a key player in the Indian squad. Pant has played in 150 games for India, where he has scored 5028 runs at an average of 33.97.

If we talk about his Instagram followers, he has more than 14.6 million followers. As a 27-year-old young player, Pant has gained a lot of popularity in the past after 2021. Also, his way of playing unorthodox shots at the most crucial stage and against some of the best bowlers has definitely helped him gain fame in the cricket world.

6. Jasprit Bumrah | India

The ‘Yorker King,’ Jasprit Bumrah, has become the true saviour of the Indian team in no time. Bumrah has developed an ability to change the game single-handedly with his magnificent bowling. Irrespective of the opponents, Bumrah has always produced incredible bowling performances, which have helped him to earn a huge fan base around the world. Bumrah has more than 19.6M followers on Instagram and 5.8M on Twitter, and that makes him one of the most famous cricketer in the world. His popularity has already made him one of the greatest pacers the game of cricket has ever witnessed.

Bumrah’s ability to pick wickets in the initial overs and restrict the batters to score runs during the death overs makes him one of the most versatile pacers of all time. His heroics on foreign lands like Australia, England, South Africa and others helped him to gain followers from these countries as well.

5. Hardik Pandya | India

India’s ‘clutch player’ or ‘ICC tournament specialist’, Hardik Pandya, is the most popular cricketer in the world after helping the Men in Blue win the T20 World Cup in 2024. He was excellent with the ball throughout the tournament, but in the finals, he was exceptional. Currently, he is one of the best all-rounders in the world. As he has said, he treats the ICC events like his ‘babies’, which is the main reason why he has been able to perform well in most of them.

When it comes to stats, Pandya has been a part of 218 games and amassed 4230 runs at an average of 30.43, while in bowling, he has taken 202 wickets at an average of 30.76. Pandya’s Instagram followers are more than 40 million. This number itself makes it pretty evident about the kind of support he gets from his fans because of his consistent performance for the team.

4. Rohit Sharma | India

The current captain of the Indian Cricket team and world-famous cricketer, Rohit Sharma, has a massive fan following around the world. Popularly known as ‘Hitman,’ Rohit is known for his funny antics, which are quite viral on social media and get reactions globally. Talking about his social media numbers, Rohit has more than 42.2M followers on Instagram while 24M on Twitter, which makes him one of the most famous cricketer in the world. He often posts pictures of himself with his family and also shares updates whenever he gets time.

Talking about his career, Rohit is known for his big hundreds. He is the only player in the history of the game who has smashed three double-hundreds in the ODI format. It won’t be wrong to say that Rohit is one of the greatest limited-overs openers in the world.

3. MS Dhoni | India

Arguably one of the greatest captains to have ever played the game, MS Dhoni, has an astonishing fan following. Not just in India, Dhoni has several loyal fans across the globe as well. The former India captain has a staggering fan following on both Instagram and Twitter. He has more than 49.6M followers on Instagram and 8.6M followers on Twitter, which is why he is among the most famous cricketer in the world.

Dhoni is not a huge social media user, but still enjoys a big fan following across both the famous social media platforms. It shows the amount of love that he gets from his fans. Even years after his international retirement, he is seen as a crowd-puller in the IPL. Whenever he comes out to bat for CSK, the atmosphere in the stadiums is something else.

2. Virat Kohli | India

As the cricket experts say, ‘the modern-day great,’ Virat Kohli, is undoubtedly the most famous cricketer in the world in the world right now. There is hardly any place around where you won’t find a Kohli fan. His Instagram and Twitter follower numbers speak volumes about his popularity. The former Indian skipper, fondly known as ‘King Kohli’, boasts a fan following of more than 270M on Instagram and 66.1M on Twitter. He is also the third-most followed sportsperson on Instagram after Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

However, it wasn’t easy for Kohli to earn this huge fan base. The right-handed batters have worked hard throughout their career and have set several records, achieving multiple milestones. Kohli has played multiple match-saving innings for Indian on the international platform.

1. Sachin Tendulkar

The most popular cricketer in the world is none other than the great Sachin Tendulkar. Even a decade after his retirement, he is highly respected, which shows the impact that he has had on the game. He has more than 50.5M followers on Instagram and 40.8M followers on Twitter. He is the most popular cricketer in the world of all time.

During his playing days, Tendulkar enjoyed some of the biggest fan following a cricketer can ever have. As a result, there were some unreal expectations from the Master Blaster. The fact that he played for India, which is arguably the most popular cricket team in the world, raised expectations even more. However, he played like a legendary cricketer all throughout his career and created several records along the way.

Top 10 Highest Fan Following Cricketer in World - Current

Cricket is a global game now, which makes the players some of the most followed people on social media. The rapid increase and growth of social media have also contributed to the cricketers' high fan following across the globe. While India enjoys a huge fan following and growth, it is certain that the list will include most of the Indian players. Let's have a look at the top 10 highest fan following cricketer in world, in which players are ranked based on the above ranking factors.