India vice captain Smriti Mandhana has been named in TIME magazine's list of the 100 Most Influential People in Sports 2026, emerging as the only Indian sportsperson to feature in the prestigious global ranking.
TIME's list of the 100 Most Influential People in Sports 2026 features athletes, coaches, advocates and investors who are "people shaping sports today."
The list, headlined by American basketball legend LeBron James, includes superstars from the world of sports such as football icon Lionel Messi, Chinese-American skier Eileen Gu, tennis star Carlos Alcaraz, basketball player Victor Wembanyama, legendary golfer Rory McIlroy among others.
The other big names in the list include another football icon Cristiano Ronaldo, South African cricket captain Temba Bavuma, who last year led his team to a historic Test series win in India as well as victory in the World Test Championship (WTC), basketball player for the New York Knicks Jalen Brunson and FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
Mandhana, 29, the vice captain of Indian women's national team, is part of the elite club.
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 is also the first woman to score more than 1,000 one-day international 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.
In 2024, she set the record for most international runs across formats by a woman and then beat her own record last year-"a feat that contributed to her being crowned BBC Indian Sportswoman of 2025."
(With inputs from PTI)