Indian cricket team played it’s last international match against South Africa, winning in Ahmedabad and wrapping up the five-match T20I series 4-1. The year ended on a high, with Suryakumar Yadav‘s team cruising on their preparation for the T20 World Cup 2026.
The year 2025 was a successful one for the Men in Blue, who won the ICC Champions Trophy after 12 years and also retained the Asia Cup. India’s tour of England was a major confidence-booster as well. India finished the year as one of the most successful teams with 31 wins in 45 games. With India’s next assignment being a white-ball home series against New Zealand set to begin in the second week of 2026, Insidesport looks at the biggest standout players for India in 2026.
Standout players for India in 2025 ft. Harshit Rana
| Player | Stats |
|---|---|
| Virat Kohli | 674 runs at 56.16 |
| Shubman Gill | 1764 runs at 49 |
| KL Rahul | 1180 runs at 47.2 |
| Abhishek Sharma | 859 runs at 43 |
| Shivam Dube | 191 runs & 12 wickets |
| Kuldeep Yadav | 60 wickets at 20.48 |
| Varun Chakaravarthy | 46 wickets at 14.6 |
| Harshit Rana | 27 wickets at 25.3 & 89 runs |
Virat Kohli
2025 saw India play 14 one-day internationals and that’s a major reason we saw Virat Kohli dominate the batting charts. The modern-day master was influential in India’s Champions Trophy win, scoring vital runs against Pakistan and Australia in the semi-final. Although it was a sad and surprising development regarding his Test retirement, Kohli continues to grow his legend in ODIs. His desire to play the ODI World Cup 2027 has gone ahead and is well on track.
Shubman Gill
Shubman Gill started 2025 not being a certainty in the Test side. However, fortunes turn in a way that he ends 2025 as India’s Test and ODI captain. He has been earmarked as the face of Indian cricket, and he delivered handsomely in the England series. He hammered all the records by smashing a 754 runs at 75.4 in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. With him playing all the three formats for majority of 2025, Gill ended up as the leading run-getter with 1764 runs.
KL Rahul
The forever underrated player, KL Rahul did his bit in 2025. He transitioned himself into a superb Test opener and performed his role magnificently. He scored 532 runs in England before playing superbly in ODIs too. Rahul even led India in 2-1 ODI series win over South Africa when both Gill and Shreyas Iyer were unavailable.
Abhishek Sharma
2025 turned out to be an annus mirabilis for Abhishek Sharma. He started his magic in late 2024 before finally storming the scene with a breathtaking tally of 859 runs at a huge strike rate of 193.6 in T20Is. While his opening partners continue to get changed, Abhishek is perhaps the biggest X-factor for India. He ended the year with the most sixes (54) for India and as the highest ranked T20I batter too.
Shivam Dube
Shivam Dube raised his stocks as a T20I player this year, largely due to his bowling. He showed that India can trust him in every situation and shouldn’t be considered just as a part-timer. When Hardik Pandya got injured in the Asia Cup, India went with just two pace bowling options in Bumrah and Dube.
Dube delivered with five wickets in as many innings. His economy of 7.77 came out as biggest plus despite taking the new ball in the final against Pakistan. With the bat, he had a strike rate of above 152.
Kuldeep Yadav
Here comes India’s leading wicket taker of the year, Kuldeep Yadav who mustered 60 wickets with a wicket after every 26.8 ball. In tandem with Varun Chakaravarthy, he was simply unplayable in T20Is, while he remains unstoppable in ODIs. The left-arm spinner also showed that he means business in Tests as well. One of the biggest mistakes India did this year was to ignore Kuldeep in England tour.
Varun Chakaravarthy
Now comes Kuldeep’s partner in crime, Varun Chakaravarthy as the duo haunted New Zealand in the Champions Trophy final. The mystery spinner is the world No.1 bowler and would remain there for a while, considering his mastery over his art in the format.
Despite bowling just 107 overs this year, Chakaravarthy took 46 wickets. That means, he took a wicket after 14.45 balls. He is an underrated match-winner in T20Is! Truly a gem and India would need him to fire at the T20 World Cup.
Harshit Rana
The player who received the most flak this year was Harshit Rana. He was consistently criticised by fans, who thought he’s in the team only because of favouritism. But by the end of the year, Harshit Rana showed why he has all the potential in the world.
He finished the year with 27 wickets, which is more than what Arshdeep Singh (25 wickets) and Hardik Pandya (19) took. In the series in Australia, Rana showed he can live up to his ‘all-rounder’ tag as well, scoring some crucial runs. India would hope Rana builds on a great year that he had and does well in future.
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