Smriti Mandhana in Most Influential Sportspeople List: Smriti Mandhana, the famous Indian cricketer, made TIME magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in sports this year. She is the only Indian on the list. TIME’s 100 most influential people in sports 2026 list includes athletes, coaches, advocates, and investors who are “people shaping sports today.” The list of international sporting icons also includes the football player Lionel Messi, tennis player Carlos Alcaraz, basketball player Victor Wembanyama, and golf legend Rory McIlroy, while the top of the list is the American basketball great LeBron James.
Other prominent personalities mentioned are New York Knicks basketball player Jalen Brunson, FIFA president Gianni Infantino, South African cricket captain Temba Bavuma, who not only led his team to a historic Test series victory in India last year but also lifted the World Test Championship (WTC) trophy in his career, and football legend Cristiano Ronaldo.
Why was Smriti Mandhana selected in TIME’s Top 100 Most Influential Sportspeople List?
Smriti Mandhana, the vice-captain of the Indian women’s cricket team, earned a place in the elite group after a string of record-breaking performances and leadership achievements. TIME has talked about the reasoning behind having the star Indian batter in its list. Their profile for Smriti Mandhana said, “first Indian woman to score a double century in a domestic one-day game, the first to score a century in all three international formats, and is a joint holder of the most international women’s cricket centuries with 17.” The profile further said, ‘records keep tumbling in’ for the 29-year-old star cricketer.
Smriti Mandhana makes it to TIME’s Most Influential Sportspeople List
Smriti Mandhana, who will be turning 30 next month, has been one of the top performers in Women’s cricket since her debut. In the shortest format of the game, Mandhana has scored 4,401 runs while striking at close to 125. No other batter in WT20Is has scored 4,000 runs at a better strike rate than her. In one-day cricket, the left-handed batter has scored cloe to 5,411 runs, striking at 90. No other batter has scored more than 5,000 runs in the format at a higher strike rate.
She was the vice-captain of the Indian team as they won their first ODI World Cup in 2025, defeating South Africa in the final. Mandhana led the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to Women’s Premier League titles in 2024 and 2026.
Pragun is a passionate cricket follower and writer who deeply loves the game. Having completed his education with a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication, he has an experience of almost two years in diverse fields. He is known for his statistical and analytical articles. Pragun tries to bring life to his articles by adding a layer of enthusiasm from the perspective of a hardcore fan. Apart from writing cricket articles, he sometimes appears on YouTube videos on a friend’s podcast.
