New Delhi: Fans woke up to the shocking sight of a deactivated Instagram account of Virat Kohli, who is one of the most followed sports personalities on social media. Fans were left shocked and confused after finding that Kohli’s Instagram account had been deactivated.
As of Friday, Kohli’s Instagram profile, boasting over 274 million followers, has completely vanished, sending shockwaves across the internet. The shocking developement came to notice in the early hours of Friday morning, with users unable to access the @virat.kohli handle after being met with the error notifications: “This page isn’t available” or “The link may be broken.”
The unexpected deactivation has left millions of Kohli’s followers in a state of confusion. With no official announcement, the account’s disappearance has fuelled widespread speculation on the reasons and timings of his sudden exit.
Worried Kohli supporters asked his wife, actor Anushka Sharma, about his account’s disappearance, but she has not yet responded to the thousands of queries.
Kohli’s Insta account vanishes but X account remains active
On the cricket field, Kohli has enjoyed a highly succesful period, scoring a bucketload of runs. Earlier this month, he also returned to the No. 1 ICC ODI batting ranking after a sensational 124-run knock against New Zealand. While Kohli’s Insta account vanished in thin air, his profile on X remains active, where he has over 65 million followers.
It is still unknown whether the account was hacked, or was intentionally deactivated/deleted or was suspended due to any issues. With over 274 million followers on Instagram, Kohli ranks amongst the most popular and followed sportspersons across the world after iconic footballers like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Kohli is currently in London, his home base, where he returned after a stellar display in the ODI series against New Zealand. The Delhi dasher broke a host of records in the 50-0ver home series against the Kiwis and also recorded his 54th ODI century.
He is expected to be back for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL 2026) season, where he will represent defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the 2026 edition.