There is no doubt that India captain Virat Kohli is extremely popular in the cricketing world as well as amongst the fans of the fascinating game. In fact, one wouldn’t be wrong to say that the Delhi-born batsman is a household name across the world wherever cricket lovers follow the game and once again it has been reaffirmed by a recent study concerning the most popular cricketers in the globe.
According to a SEMrush study – a popular SEO tool that specializes in keyword research, competitor analysis and Google Ad campaign optimization – Kohli is the most popular cricketer in the world. He was searched online at an average of 16.2 lakh per month from January to June this year.
On the other hand, India also rocked the charts as the most popular cricket team. The Kohli-led side was searched an average of 2.4 lakh times per month in the same time frame.
Among the top 10, the other cricketers were Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni, George Mackay, Josh Richards, Hardik Pandya, Sachin Tendulkar, Chris Matthews and Shreyas Iyer.
As per the concerned study, from January to June 2020, each cricketer, mentioned above was searched at an average of 9.7, 9.4, 9.1, 7.1, 6.7, 5.4, 4.1, and 3.4 lakh times, respectively.
When it comes to the cricket teams, the list headed by ‘Men in Blue’ features other teams such as England, Australia, West Indies, Pakistan, South Africa, Bangladesh, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Afghanistan, and Zimbabwe. These teams were respectively searched 0.66, 0.33, 0.29, 0.23, 0.16, 0.12, 0.12, 0.09, 0.05, 0.04, and 0.03 lakh times per month.
Furthermore, women cricketers like Smriti Mandhana and Ellyse Perry were also searched in massive numbers. Both were ranked at 12th and 20th position, respectively. They also surpassed big names like Shikhar Dhawan and Yuvraj Singh.
“While we are not entirely surprised by the results of our study, we are excited nonetheless. Finding that Virat Kohli is the most searched cricketer, and India, the most searched cricket team is unsurprising, what’s surprising is that women cricketers are being searched more often than a lot of top-rated men,” said Fernando Angulo, Head of Communications, SEMrush.
“Our study suggests that stereotypes of cricket as a man only sport no longer hold. There is considerable enthusiasm about women cricketers and women playing cricket. In the future, there are likely to be many more women playing cricket, and India, as the most important cricket playing nation is likely to supply many of them,” he added.
Top 5 searched cricketers (SEMrush study):
- Virat Kohli
- Rohit Sharma
- MS Dhoni
- George Mackay
- Josh Richards
