TOISA 2025 Cricket Nominees Announced Following Historic Year for Indian Sport
The eighth edition of the Times of India Sports Awards (TOISA) is scheduled for March 21, 2026, in Lucknow. The ceremony will recognize athletic performances delivered between January 1 and December 31, 2025. Following an unprecedented year of international success for Indian cricket, the nominees feature prominent members of the national squads who secured major global titles.
A Landmark Year in International Cricket
The 2025 calendar year yielded multiple global trophies for India. The women’s national team secured their first International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s Cricket World Cup. Concurrently, the men’s squad captured both the ICC Champions Trophy and the ACC Asia Cup. The women’s blind cricket team added to the international trophy haul by winning the inaugural Women’s Blind Cricket T20 World Cup.
Men’s Cricket Nominees
Shubman Gill
Shubman Gill claimed two ICC Men’s Player of the Month awards in 2025, setting a record as the first male cricketer to earn the honor four times overall. Entering the Champions Trophy as the top-ranked ODI batter, he scored an unbeaten 101 against Bangladesh in the group stage to initiate India’s winning run. As vice-captain in the T20 Asia Cup, he supported Suryakumar Yadav during the successful campaign. Following the retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, Gill assumed Test captaincy. He scored a century on his leadership debut at Headingley, followed by scores of 269 and 161 at Edgbaston. His 430-run match aggregate ranks second all-time behind Graham Gooch. Gill secured five Test centuries in the calendar year.
| Format | Matches | Runs | Average | Strike Rate | High Score | Hundreds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Test | 9 | 983 | 70.21 | N/A | 269 | 5 |
| ODI | 11 | 490 | 49.00 | 88.76 | 101* | 2 |
| T20I | 15 | 291 | 24.25 | 137.26 | 47 | 0 |
Abhishek Sharma
Abhishek Sharma reached the number one position in the ICC men’s T20I rankings, establishing the highest rating points in format history at 931. Against England, he scored 135 runs off 54 balls, recording the highest individual T20I score by an Indian man. This innings included 13 sixes and featured India’s second-fastest half-century and century by balls faced. During the Asia Cup, Sharma accumulated a tournament-record 314 runs across seven innings and secured the Player of the Tournament award.
| Format | Matches | Runs | Average | Strike Rate | High Score | 100s/50s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T20I | 21 | 859 | 42.95 | 193.46 | 135 | 1 / 5 |
Ravindra Jadeja
Ravindra Jadeja finished 2025 as India’s third-highest run-scorer in Tests, gathering 764 runs at an average of 63.66. As a bowler, he took 25 wickets, placing third among Indian bowlers behind Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah. Jadeja maintained consistent all-round statistics during the ICC Champions Trophy, providing stability to the middle order and spin attack.
| Format/Role | Matches | Runs/Wickets | Average | Econ/SR | Best/HS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Test Batting | 10 | 764 runs | 63.66 | N/A | 107* |
| Test Bowling | 10 | 25 wickets | 38.20 | 3.20 (Econ) | 4/50 |
| ODI Batting | 10 | 106 runs | 53.00 | 116.48 (SR) | 32 |
| ODI Bowling | 10 | 12 wickets | 33.41 | 4.66 (Econ) | 3/26 |
KL Rahul
KL Rahul contributed 140 runs across four innings during the ICC Champions Trophy, maintaining three not-out status. Organizers named him to the Team of the Tournament as the designated wicketkeeper-batter. In Test competition, Rahul scored 532 runs in five matches against England with a 58.00 average. He added an 11th career Test century against the West Indies. Functioning as a stand-in ODI captain against South Africa in November, Rahul led the team to a 2-1 series victory. He finished the year as India’s second-highest overall run-scorer with 1,180 runs.
| Format | Matches | Runs | Average | Strike Rate | High Score | Hundreds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Test | 10 | 813 | 45.16 | N/A | 137 | 3 |
| ODI | 14 | 367 | 52.42 | 107.94 | 66* | 0 |
Varun Chakaravarthy
Varun Chakaravarthy operated as a primary spin option in limited-overs formats. He concluded the ICC Champions Trophy as the joint second-highest wicket-taker with nine dismissals in three matches, earning a position in the Team of the Tournament. During the Asia Cup, he took seven wickets to support India’s title run. He finished 2025 with 46 wickets across 24 white-ball matches, trailing only Kuldeep Yadav among Indian bowlers.
| Format | Matches | Wickets | Average | Economy | Best Bowling |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ODI | 4 | 10 | 19.00 | 4.75 | 5/42 |
| T20I | 20 | 36 | 13.19 | 7.08 | 5/24 |
Kuldeep Yadav
Kuldeep Yadav led all Indian bowlers in 2025, securing 60 wickets in 25 appearances across formats. He managed seven wickets in five ICC Champions Trophy games. In the Asia Cup, Yadav topped the bowling charts by taking 17 wickets in seven matches, outpacing the runner-up by seven dismissals. His performance generated consistent breakthroughs during both championship events.
| Format | Matches | Wickets | Average | Economy | Best Bowling |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Test | 4 | 20 | 23.15 | 3.47 | 5/82 |
| ODI | 11 | 19 | 29.00 | 5.28 | 4/41 |
| T20I | 10 | 21 | 10.23 | 7.04 | 4/7 |
Women’s Cricket Nominees
Smriti Mandhana
As vice-captain, Smriti Mandhana guided India to their first ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup title. In the final on November 2 at DY Patil Stadium, India defeated South Africa by 52 runs. Mandhana finished as the tournament’s second-highest scorer with 434 runs, including a 50-ball century against England. Across 2025, she became the first woman to exceed 1,000 ODI runs in a single calendar year. She also equaled the record for most ODI centuries in a year with five. Mandhana surpassed 4,000 career T20I runs and 10,000 total international runs during the December home series against Sri Lanka.
| Format | Matches | Runs | Average | Strike Rate | Hundreds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ODI | 23 | 1362 | 61.90 | 109.92 | 5 |
| T20I | 9 | 341 | 37.88 | 135.85 | 1 |
Pratika Rawal
Pratika Rawal established multiple records following her December 2024 debut. She became the third-fastest Indian woman to register an ODI century and the third to exceed 150 runs in an ODI innings. Rawal scored 444 runs in her first six ODI innings, breaking Charlotte Edwards’ previous record. At the World Cup, she scored a century against New Zealand and led the tournament with 308 runs before sustaining a tournament-ending ankle injury against Bangladesh.
| Format | Matches | Runs | Average | Strike Rate | Hundreds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ODI | 21 | 976 | 51.36 | 83.99 | 2 |
Jemimah Rodrigues
Jemimah Rodrigues scored her first WODI century in January against Ireland in Rajkot. She added 245 runs during the Sri Lanka tri-nation series in May. In the World Cup semi-final, Rodrigues scored an unbeaten 127, partnering with captain Harmanpreet Kaur for a 167-run stand. This effort successfully chased Australia’s 339-run total, marking Australia’s first World Cup loss since 2017 and setting a record for the highest successful WODI run chase.
| Format | Matches | Runs | Average | Strike Rate | Hundreds/Fifties |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ODI | 20 | 771 | 51.40 | 105.18 | 3 / 0 |
| T20I | 8 | 212 | 35.33 | 133.33 | 0 / 2 |
Deepti Sharma
Tournament officials named Deepti Sharma Player of the Tournament at the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup. Over nine matches, she compiled 215 runs and secured 22 wickets. This performance made her the first cricketer to achieve a double of 200 runs and 20 wickets in a single World Cup edition.
| Format/Role | Matches | Runs/Wickets | Average | Econ/SR | Fifties/Fifers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ODI Batting | 23 | 596 runs | 49.66 | 98.18 (SR) | 6 Fifties |
| ODI Bowling | 23 | 39 wickets | 27.10 | 5.12 (Econ) | 1 Fifer |
| T20I Batting | 17 | 143 runs | 14.30 | 113.49 (SR) | 0 Fifties |
| T20I Bowling | 17 | 22 wickets | 23.22 | 7.80 (Econ) | 0 Fifers |
Shafali Verma
Shafali Verma entered the World Cup semi-final as an injury replacement for Pratika Rawal. In the final against South Africa, Verma scored 87 runs from 78 balls, contributing to India’s total of 298. She also took two wickets during the fielding innings to earn the Player of the Match award. Verma concluded 2025 as India’s top T20I run-scorer with 417 runs.
| Format | Matches | Runs | Average | Strike Rate | Fifties |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ODI | 2 | 97 | 48.50 | 116.86 | 1 |
| T20I | 10 | 417 | 52.12 | 170.90 | 4 |
Award Evaluation and Jury
A designated jury will select the final TOISA winners based on performance data verified by ESPNcricinfo and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The 2025 evaluation panel features:
- Abhinav Bindra (Shooting)
- PR Sreejesh (Hockey)
- Mithali Raj (Cricket)
- Devendra Jhajharia (Para Athletics)
- Sharath Kamal (Table Tennis)
- Leander Paes (Tennis)
The committee assesses candidate performance, statistical consistency, and international tournament execution to determine the final award recipients.