2014 has been an exciting year for Indian Sports fan on Twitter. Federations, Leagues and Teams across different genres: cricket, Tennis, Football and Kabaddi have used the platform to connect with fans. As the world’s largest platform for live, public conversations, Twitter was where
Indians expressed, consumed and connected with their fellow compatriots over global and Indian Sporting events in real-time. This is demonstrated by conversations around the 2014 FIFA #WorldCup which lead the trends among the fastest rising Twitter hashtag trends in India.
Top peaks in conversation relating to sports
Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) smashed the world record for the highest individual ODI cricket score of 264 on November 13th versus Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. That incredible batting display drove the biggest spike in conversations on Twitter in India this year. In fact, of the Top 10 moments, three are related to cricket including the Indian Premier League.
The roar of the cricket fans, indeed, was heard on Twitter this year in India.
| RANK | DATE | MOMENT |
| 13 Nov 2014 | Rohit Sharma scores 264 runs vs Sri Lanka. He claimed the record for the world’s highest ever ODI score by an individual | |
| 2 May 2014 | The 2014 season of the Pepsi IPL returns to India | |
| 2 July 2014 | Outrage over tennis star Maria Sharapova claiming she does not know who is cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar |
Top Sports trends
Cricket was hands down the crowd pleaser in terms of trends in sport. The India-England series was the top trend in the world of cricket, while the Pepsi IPL came in second. In fact, four of the top 10 trends in cricket, refer to the Pepsi IPL. The one-off game of cricket featuring legends at Lord’s Cricket Ground, MCC vs Rest of the World came in fifth.
Football and Tennis continued to dominate the other sports category in India. Following global trends, the FIFA World Cup 2014 was the top trend in the segment, followed closely by the legion of Manchester United fans. Half of the top ten is dominated by the World Cup, while Tennis took up two spots of honour.
Cricket
| RANK | HASHTAG | DESCRIPTION |
| #IndvsEng | #IndvsEng refers to India vs England cricket match played | |
| #IPL7 | #IPL 7 refers to the “ Indian Premier League” 7th season | |
| #NZvsInd | #NZvsInd refers to New Zealand vs India cricket match played | |
| #wt20 | World Twenty20 are the world finals in the Twenty20 cricket format | |
| #MCCvsROW | Marylebone Cricket Club beat Rest of the World XI cricket match | |
| #IPLAuction | Information and conversations around the IPL players auction | |
| #MIVsRR | Mumbai Indians Vs Rajasthan Royals game in the IPL | |
| #CLT20 | #CLT20 refers to Champions League T20 | |
| #IndVSL | #IndVSL refers to India vs Sri Lanka cricket series | |
| #RCBVKKR | Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders game in the IPL |
Other Sports
| RANK | HASHTAG | DESCRIPTION |
| #WorldCup2014 | Conversation around Football World Cup 2014 held in Brazil | |
| #MUFC | Football fans following Manchester United Football Club | |
| #AusOpen | Conversations around 2014 Australian Open | |
| #BRAvsCOL | Brazil Vs Colombia World Cup Football game | |
| #Wimbledon2014 | Conversations around 2014 Wimbledon | |
| #UCL | Happenings around the Champions League football played by top European Clubs | |
| #BRAvsCHI | Brazil vs Chile World Cup Football game | |
| #WorldCupFinal | Conversations around the 2014 World Cup football final | |
| #CFC | Football fans following Chelsea Football Club | |
| #spainvsnetherlands | Spain vs Netherlands World Cup Football game |
Top most followed Indian Sports personality
The Cricketing God Sachin Tendulkar is Numero Uno in the list of most followed sports personalities in India and Virat Kohli is fast catching up to him. Such is the dominance of Cricket that 9 out of top 10 list of most followed sports personalities are cricketers with Sania Mirza being the only exception at #7 on the list.
| RANK | NAME | TWITTER HANDLE | FOLLOWERS |
| 1 | Sachin Tendulkar | @sachin_rt | 4,797,453 |
| 2 | Virat Kohli | @imvkohli | 4,624,003 |
| 3 | MS Dhoni | @msdhoni | 3,264,924 |
| 4 | Virender Sehwag | @virendersehwag | 3,112,141 |
| 5 | Yuvraj Singh | @yuvstrong12 | 2,669,268 |
| 6 | Suresh Raina | @imraina | 2,522,705 |
| 7 | Sania Mirza | @mirzasania | 2,156,741 |
| 8 | Zaheer Khan | @imzaheer | 1,694,894 |
| 9 | Gautam Gambhir | @gautamgambhir | 1,624,827 |
| 10 | Rohit Sharma | @imro45 | 1,522,241 |
Top moments for sporting VITs
Cricketing personalities are the most celebrated in India. Therefore, the most mentioned sporting events are predictably related to Cricket. Given below is the list for 2014
| RANK | Date | TWITTER HANDLE | NAME | Moment |
| 24 April 2014 | @sachin_rt | Sachin Tendulkar | Sachin Tendulkar’s Birthday | |
| 7 July 2014 | @msdhoni | Mahendra Singh Dhoni | MS Dhoni’s Birthday | |
| 30 May 2014 | @virendersehwag | Virendra Sehwag | Virender Sehwag scored 122 Of 58 balls Vs Chennai Super Kings in the IPL | |
| 6 April 2014 | @yuvstrong12 | Yuvraj Singh | Yuvraj Singh’s knock of 11 runs from 21 balls in the WorldT20, 2014 finals against Sri Lanka |
Most Retweeted tweet by a sports personality is by Sachin Tendulkar paying tribute to Phillip Hughes
https://twitter.com/sachin_rt/status/538299716203601920
VITs who joined Twitter in 2014
Some offamous sports personalities who joined Twitter this year were VVS Laxman and Anil Kumble.
| NAME | TWITTER HANDLE | FIELD OF WORK | FOLLOWERS AS ON 09.12 |
| VVS Laxman | @VVSLaxman281 | Cricket | 1,22,348 |
| Anil Kumble | @anilkumble1074 | Cricket | 56,806 |