The BCCI Naman Awards 2026 — Indian cricket’s most prestigious annual felicitation ceremony — were held at a glittering ceremony in New Delhi on March 15, just 13 days before IPL 2026 kicks off. The event celebrated the outstanding performances of Indian cricketers across the 2024–25 season, with all five ICC trophy-winning Indian teams honoured for the first time in the ceremony’s history.
The occasion served as a powerful reminder of just how dominant Indian cricket has been over the past year — winning the Champions Trophy (men), T20 World Cup (men), Women’s ODI World Cup, Men’s U19 World Cup and Women’s U19 World Cup. See how the IPL’s top stars are now gearing up for the new season: IPL 2026 All 10 Captains.
Shubman Gill Wins Polly Umrigar Award — 2nd Time
GT captain and India’s Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill received the prestigious Polly Umrigar Award for Best International Cricketer (Men) for 2024–25 — the second time he has won this award, having first won it in 2023. Gill had a remarkable 2024–25 season, leading India at Test level and entering the Champions Trophy as the world’s No. 1 ranked ODI batter. He scored an unbeaten 101 against Bangladesh in India’s opening Champions Trophy match and finished the tournament with 188 runs. See the GT IPL 2026 Squad.
Smriti Mandhana Wins Top Women’s Award — Record 5th Time
Smriti Mandhana was named Best International Cricketer (Women) for a record fifth time in her career. Mandhana had a historic 2025 — scoring 1,703 international runs including 1,362 in ODIs, the most by any woman in a single calendar year and the first time any female batter had crossed 1,000 ODI runs in a calendar year. She was India’s leading run-scorer in the Women’s ODI World Cup 2025 with 434 runs in 9 matches as India won their maiden title.
Rahul Dravid, Roger Binny & Mithali Raj — Lifetime Achievement Honours
Three legends of Indian cricket received the Col. C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award:
- Rahul Dravid — The former India captain and batting legend who guided the Indian team to the T20 World Cup 2024 title as head coach. Dravid scored over 24,000 international runs and is widely regarded as one of the greatest batters in the history of the game. He was also Coach of Rajasthan Royals before taking the national team role and is back at RR this season as Director of Cricket (Mentor). Read: Dravid and Suryavanshi’s viral “Pehla hi uda denge” story.
- Roger Binny — 1983 World Cup hero and former BCCI President. Binny was the highest wicket-taker in the 1983 World Cup, taking 18 wickets in the tournament.
- Mithali Raj (Women’s Lifetime Achievement) — The most capped women’s cricketer in history with 333 international appearances and the first Indian woman to cross 10,000 international runs. Under her leadership, India reached two Women’s World Cup finals.
Harshit Rana Wins Best International Debut — On Crutches
In one of the most poignant moments of the evening, Harshit Rana collected the Best International Debut award (Men) while on crutches — having undergone knee surgery in February 2026. The KKR pacer made his India debut in 2024 and played a key role in India’s T20 World Cup 2026 title win, before suffering the injury that has ruled him out of the entire IPL 2026 season. Read: Harshit Rana Ruled Out of IPL 2026 and KKR Signs Blessing Muzarabani.
Full BCCI Naman Awards 2026 Winners List
| Award | Winner |
|---|---|
| Polly Umrigar Award — Best International Cricketer (Men) 2024–25 | Shubman Gill |
| Best International Cricketer (Women) 2024–25 | Smriti Mandhana |
| Col. C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award | Rahul Dravid, Roger Binny |
| BCCI Women’s Lifetime Achievement Award | Mithali Raj |
| Best International Debut (Men) 2024–25 | Harshit Rana |
| Best International Debut (Women) 2024–25 | N Sree Charani |
| Highest Run Getter (Women’s ODIs) 2024–25 | Smriti Mandhana |
| Highest Wickets (Women’s ODIs) 2024–25 | Deepti Sharma |
| Best Performance in BCCI Domestic Tournaments 2024–25 | Mumbai Cricket Association |
| Best Domestic Umpire 2023–24 | Ulhas Gandhe |
| Best All-Rounder (Ranji Trophy) | Harsh Dubey (Vidarbha) |
| Best Senior Women’s Domestic Cricketer | Shafali Verma |
| Best Junior Women’s Domestic Cricketer | Ira Jadhav |
| Lala Amarnath Award | Ayush Mhatre (U19 captain) |
All 5 ICC Trophy-Winning Teams Felicitated
In a historic first for the Naman Awards, all five Indian teams who won ICC trophies in the 2024–25 cycle were felicitated together:
- Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 winners
- Men’s ICC Champions Trophy 2025 winners
- Women’s ICC ODI World Cup 2025 winners
- Men’s ICC U19 World Cup 2026 winners
- Women’s ICC U19 World Cup 2025 winners
Now the attention turns to IPL 2026, which begins on March 28 with RCB vs SRH at Chinnaswamy Stadium. Follow the action on the IPL 2026 Points Table. See the full IPL 2026 Phase 1 Schedule.