Indian batting star Smriti Mandhana was named Sportstar of the Year (Female) at the Sportstar Aces Awards 2026 on Friday after a historic season in which she dominated women’s cricket across formats.
Mandhana scored more than 1,700 international runs in 2025 and became the first woman to score 1,000 ODI runs in a calendar year, surpassing the 28-year-old record set by former Australian captain Belinda Clark for the most runs in a year in women’s ODIs.
The left-handed opener also crossed major milestones, going past 10,000 international runs to become the fastest Indian woman to reach the landmark, while also becoming the first Indian woman to surpass 4,000 T20I runs.
Among her standout performances was a match-winning 109 against New Zealand in the Women’s Cricket World Cup, along with rapid centuries against Australia and Ireland, the hundred against Australia being the fastest ODI century by an Indian woman.
Mandhana’s prolific run-scoring was central to India’s maiden World Cup triumph.
Her consistency was recognised globally as she climbed to World No. 1 in the International Cricket Council Women’s ODI rankings during the year, achieving a career-best rating of around 828 points.
The 2026 Sportstar Aces Awards are presented by Amul, co-presented by Casagrand in association with SRM Institute of Science and Technology. SBI, Christ University, Next IAS, Bharat Petroleum, LIC, Sports Authority of Telangana, NTPC, Indian Softball Cricket Foundation, Jaquar And Company Private Limited are associate partners. Reva University is the education partner. Blue Star is the cooling partner while Times Now is the telecast partner.
Published on Mar 15, 2026