Social Media and Cricket

I’m pretty sure a lot of our class is totally unaware of sport, Cricket. It’s almost like a cross between field hockey and baseball. And if we’re talking teams, then the biggest teams in the world happens to be India, Australia, Pakistan and South Africa. With the World Cup Final around the corner, the semi-finals will take place in India between old rivals India and Pakistan. Think of it as the Lakers vs. Celtics. Yes, it’s that serious. And the subcontinent, who is big on Social Media, are gearing up for a big contest tonight which will determine which of the two teams will go into the final. However, the history and politics between both countries makes this game one of the most anticipated matches of the century. So back to Social Media and this match. If you happen to have a number of cricket fanatics whom you follow on Twitter, you’ll get an idea as to how big this particular game is for fans all over the world. Twitter has literally become an outlet for fans who not only tweet regularly during live games, either praising or ousting out players, while they act like commentators and give out their ten cents. Facebook has struck a number of debates as to who has the better team, who will win and the current “voting” app too has been put into use as users choose their favorite between the two.

The Indian and Pakistani media has realized how important Social Media is to such a match and since this is the first time since a match of this level is being played since the “arrival” of Social Media. Some of the statistics are amazing to read with regards to how important this match is. An article based on this particular match, went on to explain that over 80 percent of conversations on Facebook are about the upcoming semi-finals in India. In fact, this type of hype has rarely been seen to the extent that doctors are worried about what would happen if either team did go on to lose and its effects on viewers which are expected to be over one billion worldwide.

So why the chaos? Why the mayhem? You may ask. Well, it’s not as though these teams have never played before. They have. Whenever they do meet at the World Cup, India always wins. On the flip side, Pakistan never loses at the Mohali venue, where the match will be played tonight. Social Media is playing a huge part in generating hype and excitement for the game. However, this has also created much tension between Indian and Pakistani fans who have resorted to a number of racists slogans to cheer on their teams. Sadly, Indians who are still mourning over the terrorists attacks that occurred a few years ago in Mumbai by Pakistani terrorists have still not received answers from their neighboring country. This is one reason why the Indian public would like their team to win this particular match – as an act of revenge. Needless to say, these racist slogans have not gone down too well with Pakistani fans who in turn have come up with slogans dedicated to the Indian team too.

Social Media is never behind, whether it’s a revolution, a dire issue and in this case, the match of the century. You can expect fireworks tonight as fans will update statuses at regular intervals while they tweet with match updates. You can be sure I’ll be doing the same and rooting for my team – Team India!