Indian cricket superstar Virat Kohli embroiled in controversy for liking German model’s photo

According to Bildcontroversy ignited when fans noticed that the former India national team captain had interacted with a photo of LizLaz wearing a sexy blue dress from 11 weeks ago. Although Kohli quickly unliked the post, screenshots quickly spread across Indian social media and became a hot topic.

The incident immediately prompted netizens to recall a previous episode where Kohli liked a photo of actress Avneet Kaur, which also sparked controversy.

At the time, Kohli clarified that it was due to Instagram’s algorithm.

“While clearing my feed, it appears the algorithm may have mistakenly registered an interaction,” he said, as quoted by The Indian Express. “There was absolutely no intent behind it. I request that no unnecessary assumptions be made.”

While fans defended Kohli, arguing that it was unreasonable for someone not to be able to click like freely on social media, many joked that the algorithm had struck again for him and emphasized that he is married and has two children.

LizLaz, a German-South African model and influencer who has over 485,000 followers on Instagram, stated that she woke up to find herself all over the news and felt sorry for the cricket star.

“I was so happy that he liked it, but then him unliking it, I felt a bit bad for him because I don’t even know how it became such a big story,” she told Hindustan Times. “How did people notice? How did they make it news? That was probably not his intention behind it, but still, I am grateful for it and I appreciate the support from him.”

The model also revealed that she is a fan of Kohli.

“I also started traveling around all over South India, Goa, Mysore, even Coorg, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, and then also the north later,” she added. “And this trip is when I got introduced to cricket as a sport. It was contagious. I was also becoming a Royal Challengers Bangalore fan. And obviously, if you support RCB, Virat Kohli is the most exciting player to watch. He’s just so good.”

Virat Kohli with his wife, actress Anushka Sharma, at a ceremony honoring his 100th test, ahead of the first test between India and Sri Lanka in Mohali, India, on March 4, 2022. Photo by AP

As one of the greatest cricket players in history, Kohli has captained the Indian national team across all three international formats, including Test, ODIs, and T20s. His illustrious career includes key roles in major tournament victories such as the 2011 World Cup, the 2013 Champions Trophy, the 2024 T20 World Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy.

A legend of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Kohli is currently one of the top scorers in IPL history. He holds numerous records for the number of centuries scored and maintains impressive statistics across all international formats.

Off the field, Kohli has a massive global presence with over 276 million Instagram followers, a figure surpassed in the sports world only by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Honored as the “Cricket Player of the Decade” for 2011 to 2020, he is also the face of numerous major brands.

His personal life attracts great media attention, particularly his marriage to Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma. The couple, who began dating in 2013, married in a private 2017 ceremony in Florence, Italy and share two children.