Sachin Tendulkar is the most searched sportsperson in India

Sachin Tendulkar

New Delhi, Dec 18 (IANS) India’s cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, who recently retired from all forms of the game, is the most searched sportsperson and also features among the top-10 most searched Indian personalities of 2013, according to Google.

Besides Tendulkar, the other most searched sportspersons are athletic legend Milkha Singh, India cricket skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Lionel Messi, Roger Federer, Sania Mirza, Rahul Dravid, Chris Gayle, Ravindra Jadeja and Saina Nehwal.

In a survey carried out by Google India, the much scandalised 2013 Indian Premier League (IPL) is the second in the top trending list. This year’s IPL was rocked with charges of spot-fixing and betting charges.

Google India in a statement said that the sixth edition of the IPL broke records for the amount of online searches for latest scores and results.

“From a search trends perspective, 2013 was clearly the year of entertainment. Shah Rukh’s Lungi Dance from Chennai Express, the Bollywood romantic drama Aashiqui 2, national heart-throbs Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif, Telugu actor Kajal and her counterpart, the young rebel star Prabhas and singer Honey Singh ruled 2013 and drove millions of Indians to the web,” said Rajan Anandan, VP and managing director, sales and operations, Google India.

Dravid, who led Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, and India’s Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal also featured among the top-10 most searched news.

Dravid was in the news after his three Rajasthan Royals team mates Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan were arrested by Delhi Police for their involvement in spot-fixing in the IPL. Dravid has agreed to be a prosecution witness in the case.