Indian women’s cricket team’s star batsman Smriti Mandhana has been selected as ‘BBC Indian Sportswoman of the Year’ for the year 2025. She was given this honor for playing an important role in India’s historic victory in the Women’s World Cup 2025. In a grand ceremony organized on Monday, many women players of the country were honored for their excellent performance.
Currently, Smriti Mandhana is on Australia tour with the Indian team, where the team is playing a multi-format series. Thanking BBC for this honor through a video message, she said that 2025 has been a very special year for women’s cricket and she is happy that she could contribute to the team’s victory.
Continuous new records in career
29-year-old left-handed batsman Smriti Mandhana is counted among the most successful players of women’s cricket today. She has the second highest number of centuries recorded in women’s ODI international cricket. At the same time, among the current players, she is the third batsman in the world in terms of total runs scored. Born in Sangli city of Maharashtra, Smriti got inspiration to play cricket from her father and brother, who themselves have played cricket at the district level.
Kohli’s record broken against Australia
In September 2025, Smriti Mandhana scored a century in just 50 balls while playing against Australia. This was the fastest century scored by any Indian player (men or women) in 50 overs international cricket. With this innings he had also left behind Virat Kohli’s record.
These players also got respect
In this ceremony, young chess player Divya Deshmukh was given the ‘Emerging Player of the Year’ award. She created history by winning the FIDE Women’s World Cup at the age of just 20.
At the same time, para athlete Preeti Pal was chosen ‘Para Sportswoman of the Year’. He won two bronze medals in the track and field event at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Apart from this, former Indian star shooter Anjali Bhagwat was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for her brilliant career.
The winners of this award were selected by an eminent jury, which included Leander Paes, Deepa Malik and Anju Bobby George. This honor is a big proof of the hard work of Indian women players and increasing participation in sports.
