Dhoni, Maxwell most searched players ahead of 2nd semi in WC

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Glenn Maxwell have emerged as the two most searched players of India and Australia ahead of their most-awaited semi-final clash tomorrow in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.

According to study by global IT giant Google, the Indian skipper is leading the chart of most searches player of his team before the crucial match.

He is followed by Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan, Google said in a statement.

Interestingly, Dhoni's search rankings have improved post the crucial India-Zimbabwe match in comparison to Kohli, who has consistently been topping search trends since the beginning of the tournament, it added.

Going by online search trends, notwithstanding some really good performances by the India pace attack, fans are banking upon the strong Indian batting line up.

Among the Indian bowlers, pacer Mohammed Shami remains the most searched followed by Umesh Yadav, R Ashwin and Mohit Sharma.

Similarly, Australian fans continue to show strong support for their team with a surge in searches around their national team a day before the clash.

"Indian fans seem to agree with their Australian counterparts that the biggest threat to India is Australian striker Glenn Maxwell, who tops the search charts for the baggy greens both from India and Australia," it added.

Compared to Indian fans favouring batsmen, search trends by Aussie fans highlights a good balance with trends being a mix of their top batsmen, bowlers and all-rounders.

Maxwell is followed by Shane Watson, David Warner, Michael Clarke and Mitchell Starc, Google said.