Ace India pacer Jasprit Bumrah and star batter Smriti Mandhana were on Tuesday named as Wisden’s leading cricketers of the world, in what has come as a massive recognition for Indian cricket on the world stage. Bumrah, who capped his performances last year by becoming the first Test bowler in history to bag 200 wickets at an average of less than 20 each, is described by Wisden’s editor Lawrence Booth as ‘quite the star of the year’. Bumrah bagged 71 Test wickets at less than 15 (average) each, while bowling India to glory in the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean in June as well. In an eventful year for Indian cricket, their success depended on one factor: whether or not Bumrah had the ball. “He was so lethal, so uniquely challenging – a staccato of limbs somehow forming a symphony – that runs scored off him should have counted double … he laid a claim to be considered the greatest of all time,” Booth wrote. Bumrah’s compatriot, Mandhana, made it an India double by being named as Wisden’s Leading Women’s Cricketer in the World. Mandhana scored 1659 runs across formats last year, the most by a woman in a calendar year of international cricket, including four ODI centuries, which was another record. Mandhana capped her efforts with a second Test hundred, 149, in a 10-wicket victory over South Africa in June. In all, Mandhana scored a quarter of India’s 6739 runs, all the more brilliant given that her opening partner changed seven times. Australia-born medium-pacer Daniel Worrall, who qualifies as an England player this summer, was central to Surrey’s success, bagging 52 wickets at an average of only 16 with his accurate seamers, and is one of the five English cricketers to be named in the top 5 players of the year. The other cricketers in the list are fellow medium-pacer Gus Atkinson, wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith, allrounder Liam Dawson and left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone. Atkinson was England’s breakout star of 2024, at Lord’s, where he bagged 12 wickets on debut against the Windies, then a second five-wicket haul as well as a brilliant maiden hundred from no. 8 against Sri Lanka later in the summer.