IPL Final 2017: As the nation prepares itself for the final of the tenth season of the Indian Premier League between Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiant, there is an interesting battle going on off-field as well. Even before the teams have taken the field, the fans have picked their favourites. As far as the team battle goes, Mumbai Indians is way ahead of the Rising Pune Supergiant. As per a statement by Twitter, Mumbai has added the most number of followers by an IPL team in last two seasons which is a whopping 9 times more followers than fellow finalists Pune.
Here’s a look at the IPL Trophy:
The #IPL trophy ???? in all its glitz. All set for the pre #IPLfinal press conference pic.twitter.com/ohoU1WBg9U
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 20, 2017
However, when it comes to individual battles, Pune dominates the war. With the presence of stars like MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane and Steve Smith in the side, Pune players have been very popular on social media network. Pune had the highest number of player-emoji related Tweets this season which was nearly 4 times as many Tweets with their player emojis as Mumbai this season. Reacting to this response, Twitter has launched a special emoji just for the final.
“We are thrilled that the IPL joins an exclusive list of A-List global sports events to have a Twitter emoji for the trophy. Users can unlock this by Tweeting with #IPLFinal,” says Aneesh Madani, Head of Sports Partnerships, India and South East Asia, Twitter. So why is this a big deal, then? Well, as Aneesh Masand puts it, “There has been a 90x growth in Tweets with #IPLFinal over the last five years and we hope to see even more expression from cricket fans on Twitter for this year’s final between Mumbai and Pune.”
Check out the new emoji here:
FAN ALERT: #IPL and @TwitterIndia have launched the emoji for the grand final – #IPLfinal. Keep tweeting and celebrate #IPL pic.twitter.com/oOTRJmTHt9
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 20, 2017
The final of the tournament will be played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Sunday. While Mumbai will be eyeing its record third title, Pune will be under pressure to lift its maiden trophy. talking to media before the match Mumbai Indians’ captain Rohit Sharma said, “We certainly did not have any individual brilliance throughout the tournament. Guys have come at different points and taken up the responsibility. (It) goes to show that teamwork is so much important whether it’s bowling or your batting.”
