Smriti Mandhana and Temba Bavuma are the only cricketers to feature in TIME magazine's "The 100 Most Influential People in Sports 2026" list, published recently. The list, that includes global sporting icons like LeBron James, Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis, Hilary Knight, Lionel Messi, Jannik Sinner, Nikki Hiltz, Carlos Alcaraz, Rory McIlroy, Victor Wembanyama and Cristiano Ronaldo among others, lists Mandhana and Bavuma in the "Titans" category.
On Mandhana, the India batting superstar, Charlie Campbell, an editor at large at TIME, writes: "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.
"But Mandhana is proudest of the team honors she is also accumulating. She captained the Royal Challengers Bangalore [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."
Mandhana is currently at the T20 World Cup in England, where she scored a match-winning 68 in 44 balls in India's opening win over Pakistan on Sunday.
On Bavuma, who led South Africa to the World Test Championship 2023-25 title, Campbell writes, "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.
"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.'"