Indians are crazy for cricket and cricketers so it is no surprise that the Indian cricketers are among the most famous and most loved celebs of the country. In fact, it won’t be wrong to say that some of the cricketers are no less than superstars of Bollywood. The Indian cricket has always had its poster boys as well, such as Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar and of course Virat Kohli in the present times.
The Indian skipper Virat Kohli is not only one of the world’s best batsmen but also one of the fittest athletes of the globe. There is no denying the fact that the 31 years old cricketer has a huge fan following all over the world and his reputation of fitness freak has played an important role in increasing his popularity. It can be easily said that he is the most famous Indian cricketer because he endorses the maximum number of brands and in the month of February, his brand value was measured as 237.5 million which was even more than the double of what any other Indian enjoys.
A study carried out by SEMrush has confirmed the fact that the right-handed Indian player is the most famous cricketer of the globe. The study has also revealed that the Indian cricket team is the world’s most popular cricket team. In the period which ranges from January 2020 to Mid 2020, Virat Kohli was searched 16.2 lakh times while the Indian cricket team was searched for 2.4 lakh times.
There were some other Indian names in the top 10, such as Rohit Sharma (9.7 lakh), MS Dhoni (9.4 lakh), Hardik Pandya (6.7 lakh), Sachin Tendulkar (5.4 lakh) and youngster Shreyas Iyer (3.4 lakh).
If we talk about the cricket teams, the Men in Blue were followed by England (0.66 lakh), Australia (0.33 lakh), West Indies (0.29 lakh), Pakistan (0.23 lakh), South Africa (0.16 lakh), Bangladesh (0.12 lakh), New Zealand (0.12 lakh), Sri Lanka (0.09 lakh), Ireland (0.05 lakh), Afghanistan (0.04 lakh) and Zimbabwe (0.03 lakh).
The study also brought some positive points into light such as the increasing popularity of women cricketers. While the Indian cricketer Smriti Mandhana is at the 12th rank, the Australian cricketer Ellyse Perry secured the 20th position. These female cricketers also surpassed the popular Indian cricketers Yuvraj Singh and Shikhar Dhawan.
Fernando Angulo, the Head of Communications of SEMrush, states that Virat Kohli and the Indian cricket team securing the top positions in their category is not surprising at all but what surprised them is the rise in popularity of women cricketers. He further says that women cricketers leaving behind some famous names of the cricket world is certainly a great sign for women cricket and it assures that the future of women cricket is very bright. Fernando Angulo also adds that cricket is no more an only men sport and more women will be playing cricket in the future, the majority of which will be from India.
The fans of Virat Kohli must be very happy after knowing the revelations of this study and must be hoping to see Virat Kohli led RCB win the IPL this year which will be played in UAE.