{"id":478273,"date":"2026-03-16T08:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T08:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/478273\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T08:00:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T08:00:17","slug":"naman-awards-2026-bcci-rewards-shubman-gill-and-smriti-mandhana-with-cricketer-of-the-year-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/478273\/","title":{"rendered":"Naman Awards 2026: BCCI rewards Shubman Gill and Smriti Mandhana with Cricketer of the Year awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shubman Gill and Smriti Mandhana were honoured with the top individual honours at the Naman Awards 2026 in New Delhi. On Sunday, March 15, Gill received the prestigious Polly Umrigar Award for the Best International Cricketer in men\u2019s cricket, while Mandhana was named the BCCI\u2019s Best International Cricketer in women\u2019s cricket.<\/p>\n

For Gill, it was his second Cricketer of the Year award after first winning it in 2023, following a stellar run with the bat for India. Back then as an opening batter, 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.<\/p>\n

Read Full Story<\/p>\n

“Firstly, thank you to the BCCI for recognising me with this award. Many greats and legends of Indian cricket have received it before, so it is a huge honour for me to be here. What we as an Indian cricket group were able to achieve last year was truly tremendous \u2014 five ICC trophies, something I don\u2019t think has ever happened before,” Gill said.<\/p>\n

“I want to thank my teammates because none of this would have been possible without them. I would also like to thank my parents and family members for helping me reach where I am today. Thank you once again,” Gill added.<\/p>\n

For Mandhana, it was the fifth time she won the award after 2018, 2020\u201321, 2021\u201322, 2023\u201324 and 2024\u201325.<\/p>\n

“I mean, I can talk about this award, but I can\u2019t really speak about individual achievements without mentioning the team. It has truly been a brilliant year. So, thank you \u2014 and thank you to the BCCI for supporting women\u2019s cricket the way you have. I hope we continue to reach even greater heights,” Mandhana said.<\/p>\n

GILL RISES FOR INDIA<\/p>\n

Gill enjoyed a stellar 2025 for India, particularly in the longer formats, and established himself as one of the team\u2019s most dependable batters. On the tour of England, he led from the front in the five-Test series, finishing as India\u2019s highest run-scorer with 754 runs in 10 innings<\/a> at an average of 75.40, including four centuries and a top score of 269.<\/p>\n

At one stage, he had already amassed 585 runs in the first two Tests alone, in what was his maiden Test series as captain after replacing Rohit Sharma.<\/p>\n

Gill also played a key role in India\u2019s triumphant Champions Trophy 2025 campaign. He entered the tournament as the No.1-ranked ODI batter in the world and made an immediate impact with an unbeaten 101 against Bangladesh in India\u2019s opening match. He finished the tournament with 188 runs, making him India\u2019s third-highest run-scorer, while providing solidity at the top during the title-winning run.<\/p>\n

However, Gill did not enjoy the best start to 2026 after being left out of India\u2019s squad for the T20 World Cup, with selectors opting for a different combination at the top. Even so, the BCCI made sure to honour his contributions over the past year at the Naman Awards, a fitting recognition of the influence he has had in India\u2019s Test and ODI setup.<\/p>\n

SMRITI MANDHANA KEEPS SHINING<\/p>\n

Mandhana has been one of India\u2019s standout performers since the start of 2025, producing a record-breaking run across formats and further cementing her status as the face of Indian women\u2019s batting.<\/p>\n

She finished 2025 with a staggering 1,703 international runs, including 1,362 in ODIs, the most by any woman in a calendar year. In doing so, Mandhana became the first batter in women\u2019s ODI history to score 1,000 runs in a single calendar year, a landmark she reached during the Women\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n

Mandhana was also instrumental in India\u2019s triumphant 2025 Women\u2019s World Cup campaign. She ended the tournament as India\u2019s leading run-scorer and the second-highest overall, piling up 434 runs in nine matches at an average of 54.25. Her consistency at the top played a major role in India\u2019s title-winning run and underlined her value in big tournaments.<\/p>\n

The left-hander rewrote history yet again in September 2025, when she smashed a 50-ball century against Australia in New Delhi<\/a> to register the fastest ODI hundred by an Indian batter, men or women, going past Virat Kohli\u2019s 52-ball ton.<\/p>\n

Later in December, she became the first Indian and only the second player overall to cross 4,000 runs in Women\u2019s T20Is, achieving the feat against Sri Lanka in Visakhapatnam.<\/p>\n

– Ends<\/p>\n

Published By: <\/p>\n

sabyasachi chowdhury<\/p>\n

Published On: <\/p>\n

Mar 15, 2026 20:00 IST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shubman Gill and Smriti Mandhana were honoured with the top individual honours at the Naman Awards 2026 in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,167634,170178,170177,7054,170180,68854,170179,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-478273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-naman-awards","tag-naman-awards-2026","tag-polly-umrigar-award","tag-shubman-gill","tag-shubman-gill-cricketer-of-the-year","tag-smriti-mandhana","tag-smriti-mandhana-cricketer-of-the-year","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}