The awarding of the 2026 Men's Ballon d'Or to Harry Kane, the first Englishman to win the prize since Michael Owen in 2001, made it clear to the sports world.

Despite Bayern Munich failing in the Champions League Semi-Final and England finishing third place at the World Cup, voters decided to reward Kane for his historic personal performance. His incredible goalscoring of 73 goals in 65 games proves that when an individual is performing at their best, they will win.

So if there were a Ballon d'Or in International Cricket, who could win the golden ball in 2025/26?

With the main talking points including a highly contested Ashes series in Australia and a record-breaking T20 World Cup, here are the top 5 players.

The Top 5 Contenders for Cricket Ballon d'Or

1) Sanju Samson (IND) – The Frontrunner

Another player who had an unstoppable statistical impact in this campaign was Sanju Samson. This time, though, he has the addition of being a world champion.

Samson started the 2026 T20 World Cup as a fringe member of the squad, but ended up winning the tournament Player of the Tournament award after putting together one of the most dominant white-ball campaigns we have seen.

Stats:

321 Runs (5 Innings, 80.25 AVE, 199.37 STR)

Big Scores:

Back-to-back centuries against the West Indies and England helped India reach the final (97 from 50 and 89 from 42).

Final:

The 31-year-old smashed 89 from 46 balls, the highest individual score in a Men's T20 World Cup Final, in the biggest game of his career. India won easily by 96 runs against New Zealand.

He hit 24 sixes, breaking the previous record of most runs by an Indian in a single T20 World Cup (Virat Kohli). What was a surprise inclusion turned into a Ballon d'Or-worthy performance.

2) Travis Head (AUS) – The Red Ball Juggernaut

If you voted based on Test cricket's biggest rivalry then this is a serious threat to Samson.

Head led Australia to a 4-1 Ashes win over England. He played at a blistering pace, hitting an incredible 629 runs across 10 innings (62.90 AVE) and a strike rate of 87.36.

He hit 3 centuries to leave England puzzled. His 123 from 83 (Perth), 170 from 219 (Adelaide) and 163 from 166 (SCG) made him the first batsman in Ashes history to hit over 600 runs in a single series. He also hit at over 75, making him the scariest red-ball game-changer in the game.

3) Jasprit Bumrah (IND) – The Match Winner

Bumrah was the only bowler to shine in a T20 World Cup completely dominated by batsmen.

Whilst bowlers are often overlooked due to the amount of runs scored, Bumrah's impact in key games was huge. He took 14 wickets to finish joint leading wicket-taker of the tournament, but his ridiculous economy of 6.21 was the difference.

In the final he dominated on a flat pitch to take 4 wickets for just 15 runs. This was the best bowling figures in a T20 World Cup Final ever, earning him Player of the Match and helping India win the trophy.

4) Mitchell Starc (AUS) – The Workhorse

Whilst Bumrah was the decider, Starc had an unbelievable workload in the toughest bowling conditions of the year.

The Ashes 2025/26 saw the highest ever run rate in Test cricket history (4.07 across 4+ matches). The pitches were set up to allow for fast scoring.

Starc wasn't just surviving the carnage; he thrived. Taking 31 wickets at a strike rate of 29.34 and named Player of the Series. Starc led the attack for Australia as a veteran left-armer. He was an absolute weapon in the middle of a series dominated by batters.

5) Joe Root(ENG)

To complete our top 5 is Joe Root. Another player who had a standout individual performance despite team failure.

Despite losing the Ashes 4-1, Root was a class act. He finished as the highest run scorer for his team with 400 runs (44.44 AVE). He hit two brilliant centuries in Brisbane and Sydney (160).

Due to playing for a losing team it makes it less likely that he will win the top award. However, his consistency means he sits high up in the ICC Test Batting Rankings (816 rating points). He rightly finds himself in our top 5.

Verdict

Just like how Harry Kane won the Ballon d'Or, it comes down to what you value the most in cricket.

Whilst Travis Head and Mitchell Starc dominated the Ashes, Sanju Samson combines both arguments into one. He put together some record-breaking stats in the biggest white-ball game of his career to lead his country to gold.