The 10th season of the IPL came to a dramatic finish as Mumbai Indians clinched a one-run victory against Rising Pune Supergiant. The IPL Final match was a fitting end to a season that has captured the cricket fans’ imagination on and off the field, as illustrated by this heatmap.
Aneesh Madani, Head of Sports Partnerships, India and South East Asia, Twitter said, “It was a fitting tenth season for the IPL, on the field and on Twitter. From the player Twitter emojis which were a global first for cricket to champions Mumbai Indians using the exclusive Twitter Cam app for the #MICam video series, to the million-plus Tweets for the IPL Playoffs, the cricket conversation played out on Twitter throughout the season.” Fan engagement touched new heights on Twitter this season with the IPL Playoffs crossing the million Tweet mark for the first time in the history of the league. Among the teams, Mumbai Indians managed to win the battles both on and off the field. Rohit Sharma and team certainly won the fans over, becoming the most mentioned team this season.
The top five teams also had a surprise entrant in Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets), who snuck into the list of most mentions despite a woeful IPL season.
Most Mentioned Teams
One thing that stood out this IPL was stunning individual performances. MS Dhoni donned the role of the finisher to good effect in crucial matches for Pune, while Gautam Gambhir led from the front for KKR. The duo made it to the list of the most mentioned Player Emojis, with Dhoni leading the charts.
Most Mentioned Player Emoji hashtags
So we know which players made it big this season on Twitter, but what about the on-field moments? The IPL always throws up spectacles that catch fans’ attention and this season was no different. Predictably the IPL final was the most talked about moment on Twitter this season. Among the rest was a super-over clash, a Dhoni special and a Badree hat-trick.
Top Moments this season
#1 IPL final winning moment: MI beat RPS to win the title
#2 Super Over #GLvMI – MI beat GL in the super over
#3 IPL opening match: #SRHvRCB
#4 MS Dhoni 50 that set up a last-ball win for RPS vs SRH
#5 Samuel Badree’s hat-trick vs Mumbai Indians
Most Mentioned Matches by hashtags
A similar trend was seen in terms of matches that attracted the most amount of attention. The final once again was the one that took the spotlight, while the playoffs stage matches were among the others to make the cut.
Top Hashtags
Mumbai Indians and KKR were among the best teams in terms of fan engagement on Twitter. MI’s #CricketMeriJaan and KKR’s #AmiKKR ranked in the top five hashtags in this season of the IPL. Among the players, it was #MSDhoni that made it to the list. Clearly, the former India captain still has a soft corner in the hearts of Indian cricket fans.
