MS Dhoni, Glenn Maxwell among most searched IPL players

MS Dhoni

New Delhi, May 28 (IANS): Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Kings XI Punjab's wonder boy Glenn Maxwell have been the most searched 'Man-of-the-Match' players in this season's Indian Premier League (IPL).

Chennai Super Kings was also the most searched team besides Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab. The four teams have also qualified for the IPL play-offs.

This season's Google Search Trend analysis revealed that besides Dhoni and Maxwell, the other most searched players were Yuvraj Singh, AB De Villiers, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Dale Steyn, Robin Uthappa, Ravindra Jadeja and Yusuf Pathan.

Dhoni was awarded Man-of-the-Match for his winning knock against Royal Challengers in Bangalore on May 24. He remained not out and barely missed out on making a half century hitting 49 runs off 25 balls

Dhoni's search graphs saw an incredible rise early on when he hit a six and a four in the last over bowled by Kieron Pollard to guide Chennai Super Kings to a sensational win over Mumbai Indians after they needed 11 in the final over.

Yuvraj ruled the search charts during the election results week as he slammed an unbeaten 68 off 29 balls cracking nine sixes against Delhi Daredevils. Royal Challengers Bangalore won the match by 16 runs.

De Villiers peaked on May 5 as he produced one of the most devastating Twenty20 innings, smashing an unbeaten 89 from just 42 balls to single-handedly power Royal Challengers to a sensational four-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad, March 24.

The news of Gambhir becoming a father on May 2 got more attention from the fans as he touched his highest individual search peaks during the season.

Maxwell with his incredible batting form in this IPL also topped the search charts. He blasted a 38-ball 90 in a stupendous exhibition of strokeplay to single-handedly take Kings XI to a comprehensive 44-run victory over the Super Kings on May 8. Maxwell's performance amazed the fans as they fuelled searches on Google.