Driven by outstanding player performances, new records, epic turnarounds, and nail-biting moments, the ICC Men’s Cricket T20 World Cup garnered unprecedented social media chatter. According to Interactive Avenues’s “Capturing the Glory: A Social Listening Report” on T20 WorldCup, the cricket tournament garnered around 56 million mentions on social media and drove 461 million engagements.
Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma emerged as the “most talked about batsman” with 5.5 million mentions, Jasprit Bumrah stood as the “most popular bowler” with 1.2 million mentions and Hardik Pandya as the top all-rounder with 1.1 million mentions, respectively.
Virat Kohli emerged as the second most popular player in the entire T20 WC tournament with 4.1 million mentions, after Sharma.
Among the top-emerging players, Saurabh Netravalkar led the roster with 163k mentions, followed by Ali Khan (67K mentions), Aaron Jones (49K mentions), and Monank Patel (30K mentions).
The finale between India and South Africa was the most talked about match (2.2 million mentions), followed by India vs Pakistan (1.7 million mentions).
The report listed some “key emotional moments” that drew netizens’ attention. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s ‘bromance’, including videos of their journey together, resulted in 7.1 million engagements. The other top-emotional moments were Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli announcing their retirement from T20 international matches (4.1 million engagements) and Rohit Sharma kissing Hardik Pandya (2.1 million engagements).
Among the brands, Maruti led in most engagements with 258k mentions, Amul garnered 200K mentions, and ICICI Bank got 145K mentions.
Nandini Milk witnessed a whopping 390% increase in average monthly engagement, while BPCL’s “Snap The AD” contest drove a 191% spike in average monthly engagement.
“The Cricket T20 World Cup has once again proven the unparalleled ability of cricket to captivate audiences. This tournament has set new benchmarks for player popularity, with stars like Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah leading the conversations,” Shantanu Sirohi, COO of Interactive Avenues, said.