IPL beats Coronavirus as India’s Most Searched Word of 2020 on Google

Coronavirus captured India’s attention this year amid the concern about the pandemic but could not beat the excitement around the Indian Premier League (IPL), as IPL has beaten coronavirus as India’s most searched word of 2020 according to Google India’s ‘Year in Search’ results, announced on Wednesday. The popular cricket tournament had been postponed from its usual schedule and shifted to the September-November window, with UAE hosting the event this year.

According to Google, other top searches included presidential elections in the US along with Bihar assembly polls. Interestingly, the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM Kisan Scheme), which provides monetary support to farmers, also made it to the top five trending search charts.

US President-elect Joe Biden was the top trending personality, along with TV journalist Arnab Goswami listed second. Following Joe Biden and Arnab Goswami, was Bollywood singer Kanika Kapoor as she was in the limelight for hosting a party and getting infected with the coronavirus. Also featuring in the list of trending personalities were Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, actresses Kangana Ranaut, Rhea Chakraborty, and Ankita Lokhande. North Korean Leader Kim Jong-Un made it to the top five list of trending personalities.

India imposed the world’s biggest lockdown beginning on 24 March 2020 due to covid-19, which eventually ran up to May following which restrictions were gradually eased. During the lockdown, local searches surged with ‘Near me’ queries, dominated by searches for food shelters, COVID-19 tests, crackers, and liquor shops.

The ‘How to’ and ‘What is’ searches reflected concerns related to work-from-home and dealing with the pandemic. 

“The most interesting search terms were centered around ‘How to’ and ‘What is’ lists, reflecting society’s move to work from home and dealing with the pandemic,” Google said according to NDTV.

Surprisingly, the top ‘How to’ search was ‘How to make paneer?’ followed by  ‘How to increase immunity?’. ‘How to make dalgona coffee?’ trended too as Indians jumped on the Instagram trending bandwagon. The top ‘What is’ queries included the baffling ‘What is binod?’, followed by queries such as ‘What is plasma therapy?’ and ‘What is coronavirus?’. It also included queries about the controversial bill ‘What is CAA?’.

Sushant Singh Rajput’s Dil Bechara, which was released digitally on Disney Hotstar, emerged as the top trending movie of 2020, followed by Tamil action-drama Soorarai Pottru. Biopics made by Bollywood including Tanhaji, Shakuntala Devi, and Gunjan Saxena followed in the top five list. 

Money Heist topped the list of queries related to web series this year, followed by Indian entries like Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story, Bigg Boss 14, and Mirzapur 2.