Facebook's fandom maps show which parts of India are rooting for which IPL team

It’s hard to escape the IPL mania when the tournament is in its most exciting stage. And despite being held in the UAE for the initial matches, this year’s IPL has managed to generate more buzz than ever. Ever wondered which parts of India are rooting for which teams? Facebook has tried to provide the answer with its fandom maps.   The fandom maps show which IPL teams have a following in which parts of the country. Each team has its own fandom map, which throws up interesting insights into how fans decided to follow IPL teams. The hotspots are based on the number of “likes” that each team has gained on Facebook, and sorted by location.   Mumbai Indians seems to have the most number of fans across the country, with the hotspots showing an even spread across central and western India. Running a close second are the Royal Challengers Bangalore team which also has huge number of fans spread across India outside its home state of Karnataka.   While Chennai Super Kings too have loyal fans spread across India, but most of them, unsurprisingly, are from the Tamil Nadu and Kerala region, with thin support in northern parts of the country. Rajasthan Royals seems to have the least number of supporters if the Facebook fandom map is any indicator. Despite being one of the top IPL performers every season, it has not managed to garner loyal fan base outside its home state of Rajasthan.   Despite being one of the popular teams, Delhi Daredevil’s fandom map is even more surprising. Outside Delhi, Kerala is the only place where it has large number of loyal fans. Rest of its fan base is spread across rest of India. King’s XI Punjab’s map too tells a similar story. The team has largest number of loyal fans in Punjab, with Kerala coming in second.   Kerala seems to be an anomaly, with healthy number of fans for all teams. Perhaps Kerala residents, who don’t have a home team this year, simply like’ all teams. Kolkata Knight Riders have one of the biggest fan followings in IPL, despite having won the tournament only once and not really doing all that well in other editions. Besides Kolkata, a large portion of these fans can be found in UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam and Meghalaya.   Sunrisers Hyderabad’s fan base is well spread out across the country, though it seems rather sparse. Outside Andhra Pradesh, they do not have a strong fan following in any other state.