Ahead of International Women’s Day, we are sharing insights about the way India celebrated the players and teams at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa.  Smriti Mandhana was one the most popular players and the India vs. Pakistan match was one of the most popular matches on Instagram, with over a billion plays on Instagram Reels throughout the tournament from India. 

Instagram is a place where people can connect, build community and follow the things they love – and Reels is a great way to do that. Cricket is a popular youth interest in India, so the robust conversation and engagement on Instagram during the event was unsurprising. More than 150,000 Reels, with over 140 million engagements related to the matches have been created about the tournament from its start on February 10th to its end on February 26th.

We’re excited that our platforms are the home where people can express themselves and support each other. In context to International Women’s Day, that’s very important because we believe in empowering women – whether you’re a consumer, a creator, a business owner, a sportsperson or a fan. We’re happy to see an entire nation backing women in a sport traditionally dominated by men, and that we’ve been able to play a small role in it.

Sandhya Devanathan, Vice President, Facebook India (Meta)

While a lot of the action was posted from the   @icc, @t20worldcup and the cricketers’ Instagram accounts, a squad of content creators were also sent to the host nation, South Africa, to cover the tournament. These creators – Rida Tharana, Saloni Gaur and RJ Kisna – shared reels from a spectator’s lens and  collaborated with various teams to create content in a fun way for their audience. You can follow #ReelsSquadIndia hashtag to see more. 

Insights from ICC Women’s T20 World Cup: 

Some of the most talked about players: 

• Smriti Mandhana
• Harmanpreet Kaur
• Ellyse Perry
• Richa Ghosh
• Jemimah Rodrigues

Some of the most talked about teams:

• India
• Australia 
• Pakistan
• England 
• South Africa

Some of the most talked about matches:

• IndvsPak
• AusvsInd
• EngvsInd 
• IndvsIre
• WivsInd

Some of the most popular hashtags: (apart from matches)

• #t20worldcup
• #Womencricket
• #womeninblue