Deepti Sharma and Abhishek Sharma, who were named Women’s Cricketer of the Year and T20 Cricketer of the Year, respectively, led the way as Indian cricket players won seven of the nine Wisden Almanack 2026 awards.
Following their performances in the Test series in England last year, Shubman Gill, Mohammed Siraj, Rishabh Pant, and Ravindra Jadeja were chosen among Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year.
Premier Australian pacer Mitchell Starc, who won the title of Men’s Cricketer in the World, and England batter Haseeb Hameed, who was named one of the Five Cricketers of the Year, were the only non-Indian winners.
Deepti won the title after taking the most wickets (22) in the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup last year. With the help of the all-rounder, India defeated South Africa in the Mumbai final to win their first international championship. In nine games, she scored 215 runs, including three fifties.
In 2025, Abhishek had a breakthrough season, amassing 859 runs from 21 games at an incredible strike rate of 193 with 155 fifties.
India secured a 2-2 tie in the five-match series thanks in large part to the prolific performance of Test captain Gill, who scored 754 runs during the English summer. In the Edgbaston Test alone, he notably scored 430 runs.
With 23 wickets, pacer Siraj was the leading wicket-taker in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series.
Pant scored 479 runs before to missing the fifth Test due to an injury sustained in the fourth. In the second innings at Manchester, he scored 54 despite having a fractured toe.
