8 times more Tweets recorded for the India vs Pakistan game

The biggest rivalry in the game of cricket took place this past Sunday at Edgbaston, Birmingham where India and Pakistan went head to head in the ICC Champions Trophy. It was a high voltage contest which had the attention of the whole cricketing fraternity. There is no other rivalry in the game that attracts so much attention from the fans.

Although it was expected to be a close contest, India turned up with a clinical performance and totally dominated the neighbors. Batting first, India scored 319/3 as the match was curtailed to 48 overs due to rain. India’s top four Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh all scored half-centuries whereas Hardik Pandya played a cameo to propel them to a huge score.

In reply, Pakistan never looked in the hunt and were bowled out for 164 as India won the match by 124 runs by DLS method. Only Azhar Ali could get a fifty and rest all others literally surrendered to the Indian bowlers. India emerged victorious for the second time in the history of the Champions Trophy against the arch rivals.

Although the encounter didn’t live up to the expectations and turned out to be a rather one-sided affair yet the number of people turned up on the social media website Twitter was daunting. According to a Press Release from Twitter, there were eight times more tweets with the hashtag #INDvPAK as compared to the last time these two teams met in 2016.

Here are the overwhelming response from the users and much more on Twitter’s Press Release

From #AskHarbhajan to #AskCaptain, fans get closer to their cricket heroes on Twitter
Possibly the fiercest rivalry in cricket, #INDvPAK always gets the fans going in ways no other fixture does. While rain often dampens the mood on the field, the spirit on Twitter was never low. There were eight times more Tweets for the hashtag #INDvPAK compared to their last match in 2016, over a million Tweets related to #INDvPAK and the innovative integrations with the ICC ensured that this #INDvPAK clash was like no other.

#INDvPAK was a Super Sunday for fans on Twitter. From interactions with @ICC’s Direct Message experience, personalized video replies from Harbhajan Singh with #AskHarbhajan, live global TV Q&A with Virat Kohli through #AskCaptain, and match video highlights through Amplify, there was something for fans pre-, during and post-match. We saw eight times more Tweets with the official hashtag over the last India-Pakistan game in 2016. Big win on the field and on Twitter,” said Aneesh Madani, Head of Sports Partnerships, Asia Pacific, Twitter.

Fans followed the game real-time on Twitter, in a new interactive way and cricket was the real winner on Twitter. Here’s how:

1.       #AskCaptain

2.       ICC Q & A with Harbhajan Singh during the match on Twitter

3.       Twitter Moments Match recap

4.       Amplify bringing out iconic videos from the match

Ask Captain (#AskCaptain)

Fans were given the chance of asking questions directly to the winning captain Virat Kohli. For an Indian cricket fan, no emotion can compare to the joy of asking the captain of India a question after a victory against arch-rivals Pakistan. That’s exactly what Twitter offered fans on the day of the fixture with #AskCaptain. Oh and the best part? A personalized video featuring Kohli’s answer to the fan’s question!

ICC Q&A with Harbhajan

With the excitement around #INDvPAK building, Twitter with @ICC gave fans a special Q&A session with Indian spin legend Harbhajan Singh. Questions ranging from Harbhajan’s favourite #INDvPAK moment to Yuvraj’s innings were answered using Twitter Live.

Match highlights

What’s better than following #INDvPAK, watching #INDvPAK of course! In the #CT17 Twitter and @ICC gave fans the chance to watch all the action with match highlights, fall of wickets and key moments from #INDvPAK. And fans lapped it up!

Surprise Reply:

Twitter Moments match-recap

Who scored big? Who took the wickets? Who won the match? All of these were answered in a single Twitter feature – Moments. Fans could relive the iconic #INDvPak #CT17 match thanks to Twitter Moments.