Sachin Tendulkar most-talked about, beats M S Dhoni: IBM study

Indian spinners might be ruling the roost against the listless Australia in the ongoing Test series but it is Sachin Tendulkar who is the most talked about cricketer on social networking sites these days, beating even his newly-resurgent skipper M S Dhoni.

The analysis on social sentiment of cricket fans and alike conducted during the first three matches shows that Tendulkar consistently leads the overall conversation in this period, an IBM study stated.

Fifty per cent of the public sentiment revolved around his batting performance followed by his past records, his stature and retirement plans, among others.

Tendulkar was followed by skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and opening batsman Murali Vijay, who has scored two consecutive centuries in the last two Tests, while allrounder Ravindra Jadeja performance with the ball in the series makes him the most popular bowler in the Indian team, IBM's Social Sentiment Index stated.

It further revealed that negative sentiment towards Dhoni was high at the beginning of the first match. However, his on field performance is reflective of how public sentiments changed making the captain the most positively referenced player in the series.

Another interesting highlight was the emergence of Shikhar Dhawan on the social networks after his debut century in the third Test in Mohali. Within five days, there was 200 per cent growth in his online conversations.

Over 1.2 lakh posts across a variety of platforms including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the blogging community were analysed during the matches in the current series.

"Today, IBM is changing the game - both in business and in sports. By applying the social sentiment lens to cricket that has a multi-screen experience, we demonstrated how analytics can provide real time exciting insights into public preferences," Virginia Sharma, VP - Marketing and Communication, IBM India, said.

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