India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana has signed an eight-year deal with Agilitas Sports to join Virat Kohli’s One8 as a co-creator of women’s performance wear.
Mandhana, who had been associated with Nike since 2021 under a five-year brand ambassador deal, has opted not to renew her contract. “Nike had offered her close to Rs 30 crore for an extension, which she declined in favour of the Agilitas partnership,” a source familiar with the matter told FE.
Her new role goes beyond a traditional endorsement.
Shift Beyond Endorsements
Mandhana will co-create One8’s women’s cricket performance collection as well as its high-intensity training category. She will work closely with the brand’s design, product development and R&D teams—a process that has already been underway for the past three months, Abhishek Ganguly, co-founder and CEO of Agilitas Sports, told FE.
“Women’s athletes and the women’s category are going to be a very important part of our journey,” Ganguly said.
The partnership brings together two of Indian cricket’s most prominent No. 18s. Mandhana, the current World No. 1 ODI batter, was part of India’s 2025 ICC Women’s World Cup-winning squad and has captained Royal Challengers Bengaluru to two WPL titles in 2024 and 2026. She holds the record for most international centuries by a woman cricketer, shared with Australia’s Meg Lanning.
Legacy under Agilitas
One8’s first retail drop is scheduled for June, with products going online first before expanding to offline stores in key cities within 10-12 months. One8’s high performance cricket shoes are already being worn in competitive play — Kohli, Jos Buttler, Rinku Singh, Devdutt Padikkal and Jitesh Sharma have been using them in IPL 2026, marking the brand’s competitive debut. Meanwhile, Mandhana has recently been spotted practising with them.
One8 was originally launched in 2017 as a co-created brand between Kohli and Puma, under a deal valued at around `110 crore, signed by Ganguly during his tenure as managing director of Puma India. After Ganguly left to found Agilitas in 2023, Kohli followed, turning down a Rs 300 crore renewal offer from Puma, picking up a 1.49% stake in Agilitas before investing an additional Rs 40 crore and transferring One8 to the company in December 2025 as a standalone high-performance label. Kohli joined as co-founder of One8 under the new structure.
Agilitas, co-founded by Ganguly alongside former Puma India executives Atul Bajaj and Amit Prabhu, has raised over Rs 600 crore from investors including Convergent Finance, Nexus Venture Partners and Spring Marketing Capital. The company acquired Mochiko Shoes, one of India’s largest sports footwear manufacturers, in 2023. Mochiko contract manufactures for global brands including Adidas, Puma, Skechers, New Balance, Asics, Crocs and Decathlon. Agilitas also holds exclusive licensing rights for Italian brand Lotto in India, Australia and South Africa. Mandhana does not hold equity in Agilitas at this stage, though Ganguly did not rule out the possibility in the future.