The whole world has been raving about the Paris Olympics over the last month. But India isn’t like other countries. Here, cricket reigns supreme. Not only in sports but otherwise as well. The 3-week-long sporting event is the most popular happening in the world during the period. Despite the sports uniting, Paris Olympics came nowhere close to cricket in India.
Cricket above everything in India
According to Ormax Media, five of the top ten most popular sportspersons in India during the month of July were cricketers. Two of these five, Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni, have retired. While Dhoni still plays in the IPL, Tendulkar hasn’t played a match in 10 years. Despite that, both are ranked higher than India’s greatest-ever Olympian, Neeraj Chopra.
India’s most popular cricketers at the moment, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, occupied the top two spots. This was despite both not playing a single game in July. Granted that Neeraj also didn’t feature in any competition during the month, everyone had their eyes fixated on him given that he was one of the biggest medal prospects for India at the Paris Olympics.
Hardik Pandya, who played an essential role in India winning the 2024 T20 World Cup, was ranked 10th. PV Sindhu was the only female sportsperson on the list, while three footballers, Sunil Chhetri, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Lionel Messi, also featured on the list.
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