Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli is among the most sought after athletes in the world thanks to his performances on the field and that transpires into millions of followers on social media.

Kohli, who made his international debut for India in 2008, has steadily climbed up the ladder on social media and is now ranked 9th in a report based on how much a sponsored Instagram post could cost brands.

HopperHQ.com, an Instagram scheduling tool, analysed data to reveal a list of the highest paid celebrities and influencers on the social media platform. They looked at factors such as average engagement, how often they post and number of followers.

With a fan base of 23.2 million followers on Instagram, brands have to shell out USD 120,000 for each of Kohli's sponsored posts which is more than what the world's highest-paid sportsperson, Floyd Mayweather, gets through his posts on the social media website.

Overall Kohli is ranked 17th, above any other Indian celebrity on the list, which is headed by American reality television personality, model and entrepreneur Kylie Jenner who earns a million dollars per post.

Kohli is ranked above NBA superstar Stephen Curry, who has 21.3 million followers and earns up to USD 110,000 per post while retired boxing legend Mayweather has 20.7 million followers and earns up to USD 107,000 per post.

Kohli however, has still some catching up to do in the athletes list which is headed by Portugal football team captain Cristiano Ronaldo, who earns a staggering USD 750,000 per post with a fan base of 136 million followers.

Brazil superstar Neymar is second with earnings of up to USD 600,000 followed by Argentina legend Lionel Messi with USD 500,000. Former England captain David Beckham (USD 300,000) and Wales captain Gareth Bale (USD 185,000) complete the top five.

While Kohli already had a huge fan following on all his social media accounts, his relationship with with Bollywood superstar Anushka Sharma and the subsequent high-profile marriage in December last year also helped increase his value on these platforms.

A post shared by Virat Kohli (@virat.kohli) on Jul 19, 2018 at 9:20am PDT

Kohli is currently preparing for the toughest assignment of his captaincy career as India get ready to lock horns with hosts England in a five-match Test series which starts on August 1.

This is the first time Kohli will lead his team in whites in England where India have registered just 3 series wins out of 17 in 86 years.

Kohli will be looking to become the fourth captain after Ajit Wadekar (1971), Kapil Dev (1986) and Rahul Dravid (2007) to win a series in this country.