India ODI and Test captain Shubman Gill has been ranked 13th in SportsPro’s 2026 list of the 50 Most Marketable Athletes, one place above Cristiano Ronaldo and 14 places above Lionel Messi.
Kylian Mbappe is 19th, so Gill sits above three of football’s most followed names in a table that measures commercial appeal rather than goals or trophies. Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka tops the 17th edition, followed by freestyle skier Eileen Gu, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Erling Haaland and Carlos Alcaraz. The Manchester City and Norway star is the only footballer in the top 10.
Athletes are scored out of 100 across three weighted pillars: Brand Equity (45 points), Momentum (40), and Commercial Trajectory (15). SportsPro assessed 247 of 1,202 candidates from 70 sports, using 27 marketability drivers and more than 3,000 brand partnership records covering July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026.
Cricket’s representation rose from two athletes in 2025 to five, all Indian. Jemimah Rodrigues, who was part of India’s maiden World Cup win in 2025, is 31st, ahead of Rishabh Pant (36th), Smriti Mandhana (37th) and Jasprit Bumrah (39th). Gill had the strongest Momentum score of the five, Mandhana the highest Brand Equity, and Bumrah’s weakest pillar was Commercial Trajectory at 7.44.
Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni all missed the top 50. Dhoni is 83rd, Kohli 85th and Rohit 90th, a year after Kohli and Rohit made the cut.
Shubman Gill’s form and the buildup to NZ vs IND 2026 ODIs
The ranking landed as Shubman Gill joined India’s squad in New Zealand for a five-match ODI series starting in Auckland on November 4. He captains the first three games, with Shreyas Iyer taking the last two while Gill prepares for the two-Test series that begins in Wellington on November 19.
Gill’s 2026 ODI record explains much of the momentum. Gill has 895 runs in 12 matches at 111.87, with three centuries and five fifties, the best an unbeaten 223 from 133 balls against West Indies in Guwahati, where India chased down 406. He has 1,095 runs in 15 internationals this year at 91.25. His Test returns are thinner, managing 200 runs in four innings at 50.00 with one hundred.
Gill reached Auckland on October 29 and had a net session as India, already 3-1 up in the T20I series with a game left, prepared for the ODIs. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli return for that leg; Bumrah has been rested and named only in the Test squad. Gill’s last competitive innings was a five-ball stay for Punjab against Chhattisgarh on October 18, when Ajay Mandal bowled him for 1. He needs 287 more runs to reach 4,000 in ODIs.
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Edited by Srinjoy
