Most Centuries in Cricket: Dominating the Pitch

The question that always keeps people thinking - Can Virat Kohli score 100 centuries and surpass Sachin Tendulkar's record? King Kohli just put an end to all questions and zipped the mouths of all his doubters by getting back to form. He ended his long lasting drought in his batting form and smashed multiple centuries in all formats of the game. His chase of Sachin - The God’s Record of 100 tons, the most centuries for any player, which seemed impossible during his bad form now looks very much achievable. 

Sachin Tendulkar Raises his bat to celebrate his 100th Ton in International Cricket

Cricket is known as the gentleman’s game and one very important aspect of the sport is batting and scoring runs for your team. Batting can get tough, and building a long innings requires a lot of resilience, skill and dedication. And top of this sit the batsmen who have displayed these qualities at the highest, by scoring multiple centuries. A century in cricket is when a batsman scores a hundred runs (100 runs) in a game. A double century is an even bigger achievement, where you need to score 200 runs. In today’s chapter of ZAP Cricket Records, we delve into the records, statistics, and remarkable achievements of batsmen who make their name in the list of Most Centuries in Cricket. 

Most Test Centuries:

Sachin Tendulkar plays a picture perfect cover drive in a test match

Credit: Circle of Cricket

Test Cricket is the longest and one of the most difficult formats of the game. Batting is tough, as you have to play every ball on its merit, be it both the spin and spin bowling. Playing a double minded shot can end up with you losing your wicket. That's why you need to perfect your batting technique to excel at this format of the game. Scoring a 100 in a test is considered a glorious job and batsmen with the most in this format have etched their names in the annals of the sport. Sachin Tendulkar is head and shoulders ahead of everyone else in this format and is the player with the most hundreds in tests, with 51. Next is South African Great Jacques Kallis with 45 and Ricky Ponting with 41. Let’s look at a list of top 10 players with the highest centuries in tests

Player

Test Matches

Total Runs

Centuries

Highest Score

Batting Average

Sachin Tendulkar

200

15,921

51

248*

53.78

Jacques Kallis

166

13,289

45

224

55.37

Ricky Ponting

168

13,378

41

257

51.85

Kumar Sangakkara

134

12,400

38

319

57.40

Rahul Dravid

164

13,288

36

270

52.31

Brian Lara

131

11,953

34

400*

52.88

Mahela Jayawardene

149

11,814

34

374

49.84

Sunil Gavaskar

125

10,122

34

236*

51.12

Younis Khan

118

10,099

34

313

52

Alastair Cook

161

12,472

33

294

45.35

Steve Waugh

168

10,927

32

200

51.06

Most Centuries in ODIs:

Virat Kohli raises his bat to celebrate his 72nd century as he passes Ricky Ponting to take up the second spot

Credit: The Indian Express

Sachin Tendulkar tops the list here too. He is one of the greatest batsmen of all time. He has scored 49 centuries, more than anybody else. And a very close next is Virat Kohli, with 46, who arguably could be the best ODI Player of all time! His drive to perform when the team needs him the most, his aggression, and his passion for the game sets him apart from the rest. Just 3 short of matching the records, it is only a matter of time until he does it! And we will all be rooting for him! 

Scoring a century in ODI is relatively easier than in test matches. Once the shine on the ball is gone, it is majorly for the game played by the batsmen. That’s why we have seen so many batsmen even scoring double centuries in ODIs. Rohit Sharma holds the record for the most double 100s with 3. Let’s look at the players with the most hundreds in ODIs

Player

Matches

Runs

Centuries 

Highest Score

Batting Average

Sachin Tendulkar

463

18426

49

200*

44.83

Virat Kohli

271

12809

46

183

57.3

Rohit Sharma

241

9782

30

264

48.6

Ricky Ponting

375

13704

30

164

42.03

Sanath Jayasuriya

445

13430

28

189

32.36

Hashim Amla

181

8113

27

159

49.46

AB de Villiers

228

9577

25

176

53.50

Chris Gayle

301

10480

25

215

38.10

Kumar Sangakkara

228

14234

25

169

41.98

Saurav Ganguly

311

11363

22

183

41.02

Most Centuries in T20:

Rohit Sharma celebrates his fastest T20 century against Sri Lanka in just 35 deliveries

Credit: The Indian Express

T20 is the shortest format of the sport and scoring a century can get really tough for a player. You have to put forth an unreal display of power hitting to get to the three figures mark. But there are players who have conquered this format and smashed records in this format too. Rohit Sharma, the current captain of the Indian Cricket Team leads the chart for the most T20 centuries with 4. Let’s look at the top 10 players with the most hundreds in t20.

Player

Matches

Runs

Centuries 

Highest Score

Batting Average

Rohit Sharma

148

3853

4

118

31.03

Babar Azam

101

3465

3

122

41.5

Glenn Maxwell

98

2159

3

145*

28.4

Colin Munro

65

1724

3

109*

31.3

Suryakumar Yadav

45

1578

3

117

46.5

Sabawoon Davizi

28

1093

3

115*

41

Aaron Finch

103

3120

2

172

34.3

Chris Gayle

79

1899

2

117

27.9

Martin Guptill

122

3531

2

105

31.8

Evin Lewis

53

1465

2

125*

29.9

Most Centuries In International Cricket in All formats:

Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar both celebrate their centuries with both being the player with the top 2 most number of international tons

Now that we’ve looked at the most number of centuries in the three different formats, let’s look at the players with the most centuries in cricket in all formats. Here’s a top 10 list of players with the most international hundreds:

Rank

Player

Country

Total Centuries

Test

ODI

T20I

1

Sachin Tendulkar

India

100

51

49

-

2

Virat Kohli*

India

75

28

46

1

3

Ricky Ponting

Australia

71

41

30

-

4

Kumar Sangakkara

Sri Lanka

63

38

25

-

5

Jacques Kallis

South Africa

62

45

17

-

6

Hashim Amla

South Africa

55

27

28

-

7

Mahela Jayawardene

Sri Lanka

54

19

34

1

8

Brian Lara

West Indies

53

19

34

-

9

Rahul Dravid

India

48

12

36

-

10

AB de Villiers

South Africa

47

25

22

-

These numbers don't completely do justice to what Sachin had achieved. He got dismissed in the nervous 90s for a total of 28 times, 10 in tests and 18 in ODIs. Had he converted them to the three figure mark, there could surely have been no one who could match his record. But overall, the players in this list have written their names in the history books with unparalleled and unthinkable records. Though Virat Kohli is just 25 hundreds away from overtaking Sachin Tendulkar, it is going to be one hell of an achievement if he manages to do it. 

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FAQs:

Q1: How many test centuries does Sachin Tendulkar have?

Sachin Tendulkar has scored 51 hundreds in the longest format of the game.

Q2: Who holds the record for the most centuries in Test cricket?

Sachin Tendulkar holds the record for the most hundreds in Test cricket, with 51.

Q3: Which player has the highest batting average in Test cricket?

The great Sir Don Bradman holds the record for the highest batting average in test cricket with an average of 99.94. 

Q4: Who has scored the most centuries in One Day Internationals (ODIs)?

Sachin Tendulkar holds the record for the most three figure mark in ODIs with 49. 

Q5: How many T20 centuries has Rohit Sharma scored?

Rohit Sharma has scored 4 100s in T20 matches.


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