Royal Challengers Bengaluru might be the big winners at the Women’s Premier League, but their pace ace Laurel Bell also emerged as one of the biggest winners. Over the span of a heady few weeks, England’s Bell became the third most followed English cricketer on Instagram with 2.3 million followers. Her follower count on Instagram was actually more than Joe Root and Jofra Archer combined. Despite the significant uptick in her follower count, Bell said that she posts on social media like she’s posting for just an audience of her close friends.
“Since the start of the WPL, I’ve gained one and a half million more. That is wild. I think I had maybe 800k before I got signed for RCB, which I guess was already a lot for a female cricketer. But as soon as I got out there, the fans were just so passionate. It’s pretty crazy. I remember I hit a million in the first week and I thought, ‘How are a million people following me?’” Bell recounted in an interview with Wisden.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru pacer Lauren Bell. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)
Talking about her social media posting habits, Bell said: “It’s still going up, and I’ve definitely not gotten used to it. I still post on it like I’ve only got ten of my friends on there, but I guess that’s part of the appeal—people want to see what I’m up to. I’m super authentic with it. I’ll just post what I’m doing. When I follow sportspeople, it’s because I like them as a player but I also want to see their life. I don’t think about it too much, but if I do, I find it crazy that I’ve got two million people watching what I’m up to.”
Bell spoke about the massive fanbase that RCB have, getting recognised at a nail salon in India and being asked for a selfie while going on a jog.
“Playing for RCB, they obviously have a massive fanbase. Everywhere you go, there’s an RCB fan. By the end of the tournament, the experience was very different regarding freedom and being recognized. It was super cool how well I was welcomed by the fans; they’ve given me so much support,” Bell said.
“I even got recognized in a nail parlor. Literally everywhere we went—we went on a run once, which probably wasn’t our best idea—people knew who we were. When we weren’t playing, we went for lots of coffees and played cards. We didn’t get up to many shopping activities,” Bell added before revealing that she was also asked for selfies while she went on a jog in India.
