Google has released its list of the most searched topics of 2018 and FIFA World Cup 2018 along with IPL 2018 have made it to the top 3 of this list in India.
The football fever in India was visible in full glory during the U-17 World Cup in 2017 and thus it was not surprising to see the FIFA World Cup of 2018 feature on top of the list of sports events followed closely by the Indian Premier League at the second spot.
The World Cup obviously benefitted from being a quadrennial event and football being the most popular sport in the world propelled the event's searches to the top of the overall list too. Surprisingly, in the overall list, the search "Live Score" finished second and IPL 2018 rounded off the top 3.
This year once again reiterated that India is a sports-loving country with the IPL trumping the likes of Rajinikanth-starrer Robot 2.0 and Salman Khan's Big Boss.
The other sports events in the top 10 of the overall list are the Asia Cup 2018 – which the Indian cricket team won – and the Asian Games of 2018, where the Indian contingent exceeded expectations by winning a record tally of 15 gold medals.
IPL's popularity in the 2018 edition received a massive boost courtesy the return of familiar franchises Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals. The former franchise led by India's former captain, MS Dhoni was received with great fanfare and provided a perfect crescendo by finishing as the winners of the tournament.
In the sports list, a couple of Tennis tournaments – Australian Open and Wimbledon – made its way into the top 10. The two grand slams replaced two WWE events from 2017 as WrestleMania and Royal Rumble slipped out of the list in 2018.
Among the domestic sports events, Pro Kabaddi League maintained its place in the top 10 and so did the Indian Super League. The Winter Olympics and Commonwealth Games make up the rest of the list.
