Smriti Mandhana, Temba Bavuma feature in TIME Magazine’s most influential sportspersons

Smriti Mandhana, Temba Bavuma (Photo Source: ICC/BCCI)

India Women’s vice-captain Smriti Mandhana and South Africa Test and ODI captain Temba Bavuma are the only two cricketers named in TIME Magazine’s ‘The 100 Most Influential People in Sports 2026’ list. The list consists of high-achieving athletes like LeBron James, Lionel Messi, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Rory McIlroy, Victor Wembanyama and Cristiano Ronaldo, among others, and has seen the two batters named in the ‘Titans’ category.

Mandhana has established her status as one of the mercurial batters of the women’s game. The southpaw played a key role in India’s 2025 Women’s World Cup win, their maiden laurel in the women’s game. She scored 434 runs in nine games, breaking the record set by Mithali Raj for most runs scored by an Indian batter in an ODI World Cup. She scored 1,703 runs in 2025 across all formats, the most runs by a batter in a calendar year, breaking her own record of 1,659 runs from 2024. She also scored 1362 in ODIs, the most by a batter in a calendar year in the format.

“The records keep tumbling in for Smriti Mandhana. 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. Mandhana is also the first woman to score more than 1,000 one-day international runs in a calendar year,” magazine editor Charlie Campbell wrote on Mandhana, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

“But Mandhana is proudest of the team honors she is also accumulating. She captained the Royal Challengers Bengaluru 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. In 2024, Mandhana 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,” Campbell added.

South Africa’s reliable leader, Bavuma, led his team to a historic ICC World Test Championship Final win at Lord’s, which was followed by a 2-0 away Test series whitewash of India. In a dramatic chase of 282 in the fourth innings, the skipper scored a valiant 66 off 134 balls, stitching a 147-run stand for the third wicket with centurion Aiden Markram. In the first Test against India in Kolkata, Bavuma scored a fighting 55 in tough batting conditions in the second innings, helping the Proteas set a competitive 124-run target, which they successfully defended.

“Temba Bavuma has always carried more than the weight of his shirt. As one of just a handful of Black South African cricketers, his successes were lauded as a turning point for the sport. But any setbacks were never merely his own. Fortunately, Bavuma has enjoyed many more successes than setbacks. In 2016, he became the first Black South African to hit a century (scoring 100 or more runs in an inning), and five years later he was his nation’s first Black captain,” Campbell expressed.

“Last year, Bavuma led South Africa to a historic Test series win in India as well as victory in the World Test Championship (WTC), besting a heavily favored Australia in the final and emerging from the tournament undefeated. It was South Africa’s first international title since 1998 and owed much to Bavuma’s heroic 66 runs in the final despite his being hobbled by a hamstring strain. ‘It was that moment there to be recognized as more than just a Black African cricketer,’ Bavuma told journalists following the WTC. ‘And I hope that it continues to inspire our country.'”\

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