Top 4 ODI Cricketers With Most Centuries: The most successful batsmen in the history of One Day International cricket have multiple centuries to their name. Some of them are even regarded as ‘the best ever in the game’.
Sachin Tendulkar, the iconic Indian cricketer, has 49 ODI centuries to his name. He is followed by the current India limited-overs captain, Virat Kohli.
1. Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar is a legendary cricketer who has scored a massive number of centuries in the ODI format. The Master Blaster, who retired from the game in 2011, has 49 ODI centuries to his name. He is also a great opening batsman and has played a key role in India’s success in international cricket. He is one of the best players in history and has been regarded as one of the greatest batsmen ever to play the game.
Sachin made his debut in the ODI format in 1994 and has become one of the most successful players to have ever played the game. He was a prolific run scorer and had many great innings that will go down in the history books of cricket. He was the first player to reach 15,000 runs in Test matches. He is the highest run scorer in the history of ODI cricket and has also broken several other records.
Second on the list of ODI cricketers with most centuries is Virat Kohli. The Indian captain has been a consistent run-scorer throughout his career and is often compared to legends like Sachin Tendulkar and Don Bradman for his god-like consistency. Kohli has played 291 ODI matches and scored a total of 13,794 runs. He has 71 fifties and 47 centuries to his name, which is an outstanding achievement.
He is also the leading run-scorer in ICC Champions Trophy and World Cup matches and has led his side to two ICC World Twenty20 titles. His performance in the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup will be watched by a huge audience.
Third on the list of ODI cricketers is former Australia captain Ricky Ponting. Ponting was a brilliant batsman who is known for his attacking game. He is a legend of the sport and has won countless awards for his performances. He has a total of 30 ODI centuries to his name, 25 of which came in a winning cause.
Fourth on the list is AB de Villiers, a South African batsman who was a major force in his country’s ODI team. He has won a number of trophies in his career and was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2013. De Villiers was a great finisher and can hit the winning run with ease.
2. Virat Kohli
ODI cricket is one of the most popular formats of the game, and scoring a century in this format is a major achievement that requires tremendous discipline, focus, and skill. The batsmen who are most adept at hitting three-digit scores in this format are considered the most valuable players on the field. This list of the top ten ODI cricketers with most centuries is a testament to their exceptional skills and talent.
Virat Kohli is one of the most prolific ODI cricketers to ever play the game. He made his ODI debut in 2008 and quickly established himself as one of India’s most talented batsmen. Kohli’s form improved even more after he became the captain of the Indian team for the 2016-17 season. In this period, Kohli scored four double centuries and led India to victory in series against the West Indies and New Zealand. He also became the fastest batsman to reach 20,000 runs in all formats of the game.
Kohli continued his good form into the 2019 ICC World Cup. Although India failed to reach the final, he still managed to score five fifties in the tournament. He also reached his highest ODI score of 183 in a run chase against Pakistan, which earned him plenty of praise.
The next name on our list of ODI cricketers with most centuries is former Sri Lankan skipper Kumara Sangakkara. During his ODI career, Sangakkara had a lot of success with the bat and made many memorable runs. He started his career with a bang and scored a hundred in his first ODI match against England. He would go on to score many more hundreds in his ODI career.
In addition to his impressive batting record, Kumara Sangakkara was also an excellent wicketkeeper. He retired from ODIs with over 25 centuries to his name. This is a remarkable feat that speaks to his ability behind the stumps as well as in front of it. Moreover, Sangakkara was the fastest batsman to reach milestones such as 8,000; 9,000; 10,000; and 11,000 runs in ODIs, often reaching these milestones whilst scoring centuries.
3. Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma is one of the most prolific run-scorers in the history of ODI cricket. He is currently in the process of surpassing the legendary Sachin Tendulkar as India’s leading ODI run scorer, with an impressive tally of 79 centuries. Rohit’s prowess as a batsman in white-ball cricket is unparalleled, with the Indian captain often compared to batting legends like Don Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar for his god-like consistency.
Having been a key member of India’s World Cup winning teams in 2015 and 2019, the Mumbai batsman is a force to be reckoned with in global cricket. The “Chase Master” is undoubtedly a modern-day batting great, with his sheer dominance in white-ball cricket resulting in him being the best batsman in the game right now.
The first of Rohit’s ODI tons came in his debut match in 2007, when he scored a blistering 200 not out against Ireland, with MS Dhoni at the other end to witness it. The feisty opening batsman went on to make another century just four months later in a match against Pakistan, which also saw him become the youngest player to reach 10,000 runs in ODIs.
His impressive tally of ODI centuries continued after he was promoted to open the batting for India in 2013, with him instantly becoming a major force in international cricket. In 2019, Rohit broke several records in the ODI arena, including scoring the most centuries for India in a calendar year with nine, with seven of them coming in winning causes.
Rohit’s tenth ODI century of the season came in an emphatic win over Australia in January this year, with the skipper hitting 183 against his old team. This capped off an outstanding year for the swashbuckling opener, who had already become synonymous with India’s white-ball supremacy in 2019.
With such remarkable consistency, it’s no wonder that Rohit is our number 3 ODI cricketer with the most centuries. He is truly a modern-day batting legend, and the way in which he performs in high-pressure matches in ODI cricket, we are sure that many future generations of cricketers will look up to him as their role model.
4. Kumar Sangakkara
In the fourth spot we have the former Sri Lanka national cricket team captain Kumar Sangakkara. Sangakkara is a top-order wicketkeeper batsman with an elegant batting style and has a number of ODI centuries to his name. He was one of the most consistent batsmen in ODI cricket over a period of more than two decades. He was also a fine captain and led his side to several wins in ODI matches.
He made his ODI debut in 2000 against Pakistan in the Singer Triangular series in Galle. After impressing the selectors with his brilliant performance in domestic cricket, he was quickly elevated to the national squad. He made a remarkable impact in the ODI format of the game and was soon regarded as one of the finest opening batsmen in the world.
After scoring his first century in ODI cricket, Sangakkara accelerated his run-scoring rate and was soon considered as the best player of his generation in the shortest format of the game. In the process, he broke several batting records including fastest half-century and fastest century in ODI cricket. Sangakkara was in tremendous form during the 2004 ICC World Cup held in Australia and New Zealand and scored four consecutive centuries to become the only player to score more than 500 runs in a single ODI innings.
Sangakkara is one of the very few players to have scored 11 double centuries in ODI cricket. This is the joint-most number of double tons in ODI history with Sir Don Bradman ahead of him with 12. Sangakkara also became the third fastest batsman to reach 12,000 ODI runs after Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting with his 11th ODI century against New Zealand on 4 January 2015 at Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium, Hambantota.
The Indian limited-overs skipper Rohit Sharma is another prolific run-scorer in ODI cricket and has the most hundreds of any batsman in the history of the game. He is a very dangerous front-foot player and is comfortable with playing all kinds of shots in ODI cricket. He is also known for his brilliant cover drives.
