Indian cricket star Smriti Mandhana has been named among TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in Sports 2026, emerging as the only Indian to feature on the prestigious list that recognises athletes, coaches, advocates and investors shaping the global sporting landscape.

The list is led by American basketball great LeBron James and features some of the biggest names in world sport, including football icons Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, tennis star Carlos Alcaraz, golfer Rory McIlroy, skier Eileen Gu, basketball sensation Victor Wembanyama, South African cricket captain Temba Bavuma, New York Knicks player Jalen Brunson and FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

Mandhana, the 29-year-old 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’s profile for Mandhana said that the Mumbai-born left-handed opening batter was the "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" as it noted that the "records keep tumbling in" for Mandhana.

She also became the first woman cricketer to score more than 1,000 ODI runs in a calendar year.

“But Mandhana is proudest of the team honors she is also accumulating. She captained the Royal Challengers Bangalore to the 2024 and 2026 Women's Premier League titles and was vice captain for India’s triumph at last year’s ICC Women's World Cup, scoring the second-most runs in the tournament,” TIME said.

The publication also highlighted Mandhana’s consistency across formats, noting that in 2024 she set the record for the most international runs scored by a woman in a calendar year before surpassing her own mark in 2025.

The achievement, TIME noted, was “a feat that contributed to her being crowned BBC Indian Sportswoman of 2025.”