India’s ODI and Test Captain Shubman Gill has emerged as the world’s most marketable cricketer, securing 13th place in SportsPro‘s 2026 ranking of the 50 Most Marketable Athletes, ahead of global football icons Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
The 17th edition of the annual rankings, published in partnership with NorthStar Solutions Group, places Ronaldo 14th and Messi 27th. Gill leads a group of five Indian cricketers in the top 50, while established stars Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni have all missed out.
The results also mark an increase in cricket’s representation on the global list, with five players included compared to just two in 2025.
Gill leads India’s cricket contingent
Gill is joined by Jemimah Rodrigues, Rishabh Pant, Smriti Mandhana and Jasprit Bumrah, giving India five representatives among the world’s 50 most marketable athletes.
Rodrigues, a member of India’s Women’s ODI World Cup-winning team, is the second-highest-ranked cricketer at 31st. Pant follows in 36th place, with Mandhana ranked 37th and Bumrah 39th.
Shubman Gill at #13 on the list of the Top 50 Most Marketable Athletes of 2026 🤩👑
When hard work meets unwavering determination, greatness becomes inevitable. https://t.co/XUVFbWLAHO
— Nishi77💫 (@X_Nishi77) October 29, 2026
The rankings reflect different commercial strengths across the Indian contingent. Gill achieved the highest Momentum score among the five cricketers, while Mandhana recorded the strongest Brand Equity score. Bumrah received 7.44 points for Commercial Trajectory, his lowest-scoring category.
The inclusion of Rodrigues and Mandhana also gives women’s cricket two places in the global top 50, alongside three players from India’s men’s game.
Kohli and Rohit fall out of the top 50
The absence of Kohli, Rohit and Dhoni is among the most notable developments in the cricket rankings, particularly given Kohli’s previous standing among the world’s leading marketable athletes.
Kohli, who was ranked second globally in 2014 behind Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton, was the highest-placed Indian athlete that year. Former England Captain Kevin Pietersen was the only other cricketer on the list. Kohli subsequently reached third place in 2016.
Both Kohli and Rohit appeared in the top 50 in 2025 but have fallen to 85th and 90th, respectively, in the latest assessment. Dhoni is positioned 83rd, ahead of both players but outside the published top 50.
How SportsPro measures athlete marketability
SportsPro’s rankings assess athletes through a commercial evaluation model developed by NorthStar Solutions Group, rather than relying exclusively on sporting achievements, popularity or social media following.
The framework combines established brand strength, recent growth and future commercial potential into an overall score out of 100.
SportsPro explained in its report: “The 2026 edition of SportsPro’s 50 Most Marketable Athletes, powered by NorthStar, ranks athletes on a 100-point NorthStar Marketability Score built from three scoring pillars: Brand Equity (45 points), Momentum (40 points) and Commercial Trajectory (15 points). As such, the model reads three things together: the equity an athlete has built, the momentum behind it, and the room they still have to grow.”
The assessment incorporates audience reach, online search interest, media sentiment and commercial partnerships. Each athlete’s performance is measured relative to the other candidates evaluated during the same year, with Momentum determining the higher placement when overall scores are tied.
The report further outlined its methodology: “Behind the score sit 27 defined marketability drivers, informed by several hundred data points per athlete and more than 3,000 brand partnership records. In total, an expanded pool of 1,202 athletes across 70 sports was considered, with evidence collected from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026. Of those, 247 were assessed in full to determine the final rankings.”
The methodology also categorises athletes by the geographic reach of their brands, using Global, Multi-Market, Regional and Local classifications.
Sabalenka tops global rankings as basketball dominates
Belarusian tennis star Aryna Sabalenka has been named the world’s most marketable athlete for 2026, becoming the fourth woman and third tennis player to lead SportsPro’s rankings since their introduction in 2010.
The four-time Grand Slam champion, who finished 2025 as the WTA Tour’s top-ranked player for a second consecutive season, was estimated to have earned approximately US$30M during 2025 through prize money and off-court income.
Her commercial portfolio includes partnerships with Nike, Wilson, Gucci, Emirates, Audemars Piguet, Whoop and Stella Artois.
Olympic freestyle skiing champion Eileen Gu occupies second place, followed by NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo in third. Manchester City forward Erling Haaland ranks fourth, while Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz completes the top five.
Basketball has the largest representation in the top 50, accounting for 13 athletes, including ten from the NBA. Football follows with 11 representatives, while tennis has eight and cricket five. Motorsport and American football each contribute three athletes.
Among the other notable placements, American figure skater Alysa Liu is the highest-ranked newcomer at sixth, following her gold medal-winning performances at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.
India ranks second in national representation
India’s five cricketers also make it the second-most represented country in the rankings, behind the United States, which accounts for 16 athletes.
A total of 22 nationalities feature in the 2026 top 50, compared with 17 in the previous edition. Spain has four representatives, while the United Kingdom has three.
Women account for 16 places, down from 20 in 2025 and 23 in 2023, despite occupying the top two positions through Sabalenka and Gu.
The 2026 rankings place India second only to the United States in national representation, with all five Indian athletes coming from cricket.
