Team India’s players rule in Wisden, stars shine in the Bible of cricket

By Samira Vishwas On Apr 25, 2026

The publication of the world’s oldest cricket annual, ‘Wisden Cricketers’ Almanac’, commonly known simply as ‘Wisden’, is as regular as the start of the cricket season each English summer. There is no doubt that in the present age of the Internet, its importance as an annual for keeping a record of cricket-related events as well as keeping an eye on them has diminished to some extent, yet due to its unique features and information, it definitely finds a place in the library of books of true fans of cricket. In fact, it is sometimes called the ‘Bible of Cricket’.

Lawrence Booth is currently the editor of this cricket ‘Bible’ and as always, he has spoken on the issues related to today’s cricket in the 163rd edition of this annual.

From India’s perspective, the most heartening thing about this new edition is the dominance of Indian players in the Wisden annual awards. See:

Five cricketers of the year: The ‘Men in Blue’ had toured England in 2025 and hence were eligible to be selected for these awards. It is the oldest award in the almanac and is usually awarded for performance in the previous English summer. The names of four players of Shubman Gill’s Test team are included in this list:

Rishabh Pant: ‘Rishabh Pant’s explosive and brilliant performances were one of the highlights of this summer, especially at Headingley, where he scored 134 and 118. Also made three 50s – the last after suffering a leg injury,’ wrote Wisden.

Ravindra Jadeja: Played a key role in India’s Test comeback attempt in England, finishing as the highest average with 516 runs at an average of 86. His six scores of 50 or more included a match-saving 100 in Manchester.

Mohammed Siraj: Took 23 wickets in the England-India Test series, and took 5 wickets at the last chance at the Oval to level the series 2-2. Of these 5 wickets, 3 of England’s last four wickets were taken on a very exciting final morning.

Shubman Gill: ‘His run pile continues to dominate Anderson-Tendulkar Test series; His 754 runs is the highest score ever by India in a series against England. ‘This included brilliant innings of 269 and 161 at Edgbaston, with 100s at Headingley and Old Trafford in between,’ Wisden reported.

Haseeb Hameed: This captain, who led Nottinghamshire to the championship for the first time in 15 years, is the only non-Indian player included in this list. Played a special role in the team’s victory by scoring 1,258 runs at an average of 66. Twice, after starting the innings, he was not out till the end (carried his bat), and out of the four centuries he scored, two were converted into double centuries.

Leading men’s cricketer in the world: Mitchell Starc. He took 55 wickets at an average of 17.32 in 11 Tests played in this calendar year. This includes his career best performance of 6 wickets for 9 runs against West Indies. After this, he continued his excellent performance by taking 18 wickets in the first two Tests of the 2025-26 Ashes. In this entire series, the team won by taking a total of 31 wickets at an average of 19.93.

Leading women’s cricketer: Deepti Sharma of India. She played a special role in India’s victory in the Women’s Cricket World Cup. Scored 215 runs at an average of 30 and took 22 wickets at an average of 20. This is an unprecedented record for any male or female cricketer. He also performed brilliantly in the final match, taking 58 runs (at the rate of almost one run per ball) and 5 wickets for 39 runs, ensuring India’s victory. 28 year old Deepti was chosen ‘Player of the Tournament’. Other Indian women players to win this prestigious Wisden Award:

2017: Mithali Raj

2018: Smriti Mandhana

2024: Smriti Mandhana

Leading T20 cricketer: Abhishek Sharma of India. He received this award for scoring more than 1,000 runs in 2025 – at a rate of more than two runs a ball.

Wisden Trophy for the best performance of the year: Shubman Gill received this award for scoring a total of 430 runs in two innings during India’s Test win at Edgbaston.

The process of selecting ‘Five cricketers of the year’ has been going on since 1889 and thus it has the status of the oldest individual award in cricket. Indian Test cricketers who have been included in the ‘Five Wisden Cricketers of the Year’:

1932: Nawab Pataudi Senior (performs for England)

1933: CK Naidu

1937: Vijay Merchant

1947: Vinoo Mankad

1968: Nawab Pataudi Junior

1972: Bhagwat Chandrashekhar

1980: Sunil Gavaskar

1983: Kapil Dev

1984: Mohinder Amarnath

1987: Dilip Vengsarkar

1991: Mohammad Azharuddin

1996: Anil Kumble

1997: Sachin Tendulkar

2000: Rahul Dravid

2002: VVS Laxman

2008: Zaheer Khan

2014: Shikhar Dhawan

2019: Virat Kohli

2022: Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma

2023: Harmanpreet Kaur

2026: Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, Mohammed Siraj