Shubman Gill and Smriti Mandhana were awarded the highest individual honors at the Naman Awards 2026 in New Delhi. On Sunday 15 March, Gill received the prestigious Polly Umrigar Award for Best International Cricketer in Men’s Cricket, while Mandhana was named BCCI’s Best International Cricketer in Women’s Cricket.
It was Gill’s second Cricketer of the Year award after winning it for the first time in 2023 following a stellar run with the bat for India. As an opening batsman then, he amassed a remarkable 1,584 runs in 29 ODIs at an average of 63.36 and a strike rate of 105.45, including five centuries.
It was Mandhana’s fifth time to win the award after 2018, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2023–24 and 2024–25.
GILL RISES FOR INDIA
Gill enjoyed a stellar 2025 for India, particularly in the longer formats, establishing himself as one of the team’s most reliable batsmen. On the tour of England, he led from the front in the five-Test series, he finished as India’s highest run scorer with 754 runs in 10 innings averaged 75.40, including four centuries and a top score of 269.
At one stage he had already amassed 585 runs in the first two Tests alone, his first Test series as captain after replacing Rohit Sharma.
Gill also played a key role in India’s triumphant Champions Trophy 2025 campaign. He entered the tournament ranked No. 1 in the ODI world rankings and made an immediate impact with an unbeaten 101 against Bangladesh in India’s opening match. He finished the tournament with 188 runs, making him India’s third-highest run-scorer, while providing solidity at the top during the match-winning run.
However, Gill did not enjoy the best start to 2026 after being left out of India’s T20 World Cup squad, with the selectors opting for a different combination at the top. Still, the BCCI made sure to recognize his contributions over the past year at the Naman Awards, a fitting recognition of his impact on India’s Test and ODI set-up.
SMRITI MANDHANA STILL GLOWS
Mandhana has been one of India’s leading performers since the start of 2025, creating a record-breaking streak across formats and further cementing her status as the face of Indian women’s batting.
She finished 2025 with a staggering 1,703 international runs, including 1,362 in ODIs, the most by any woman in a calendar year. Mandhana thus became the first batsman in women’s ODI history to score 1,000 runs in a single calendar year, a milestone she achieved during the Women’s World Cup.
Mandhana was also instrumental in India’s triumphant campaign in the 2025 Women’s World Cup. She finished the tournament as India’s top run-scorer and second-highest overall, amassing 434 runs in nine matches at an average of 54.25. Her consistency at the top played a major role in India’s winning run and underlined her value in major tournaments.
The lefty rewrote history again in September 2025 when she smashed a 50-ball century against Australia in New Delhi to register the fastest ODI hundred by an Indian batsman, male or female, going past Virat Kohli’s 52-ball ton.
Later in December, she became the first Indian and only the second player overall to cross 4,000 runs in women’s T20Is, achieving the feat against Sri Lanka in Visakhapatnam.
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Issued by:
sabyasachi chowdhury
Published on:
15 March 2026 20:00 IST
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