When a player scores 100 runs in cricket, it is called a century, find out the top 20 list of cricketers with the most number of centuries in international cricket history.
Currently, Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar is the first and only cricketer to have scored 100 centuries in the history of international cricket.
Top 20 list of players with most centuries in international cricket in all formats, ODI, T20 and test
Most centuries in intl cricket among active players
73 – Virat Kohli
51 – Virat Kohli in winning cause
46 – Virat Kohli in LOIs
45 – Virat Kohli in ODIs
45 – David Warner
44 – Joe root
42 – Steven Smith
41 – Virat Kohli as captain
41 – Rohit Sharma
40 – Virat kohli outside India pic.twitter.com/jWZ6Ruyh2x— 𝙍𝘿𝙆 ʰʸᵖᵉᵈ ᶠᵒʳ ᵛᵃʳⁱˢᵘ (@Goatcheeku_18) January 10, 2023
Behind Sachin Tendulkar, another Indian, Virat Kohli, has risen up the ranks upto second place, with 73 runs. Retired Australian batsman Ricky Ponting is on the third spot with 71 centuries.
Notably, it took 24 years for Sachin to score his 100 centuries, while Ricky Ponting scored 71 centuries in a span of 17 years. Virat Kohli on the other hand has scored 73 centuries having played for almost 15 years now.
Full list of top 20 cricketers with the most number of centuries in international cricket
Given below is the full list of top 20 cricketers with the most number of centuries in international cricket:
| Sl.No | Player | Number Of Centuries | Duration |
| 1 | Sachin Tendulkar | 100 | 1989–2013 |
| 2. | Virat Kohli | 73 | 2008-2023 |
| 3. | Ricky Ponting | 71 | 1995-2012 |
| 4. | Kumar Sangakkara | 63 | 2000–2015 |
| 5. | Jacques Kallis | 62 | 1995–2014 |
| 6. | Hashim Amla | 55 | 2004–2019 |
| 7. | Mahela Jayawardene | 54 | 1997–2015 |
| 8. | Brian Lara | 53 | 1990–2007 |
| 9. | Rahul Dravid | 48 | 1996–2012 |
| 10. | AB de Villiers | 47 | 2004–2018 |
| 11. | David Warner | 45 | 2009-2023 |
| 12. | Joe Root | 44 | 2012-2022 |
| 13. | Chris Gayle | 42 | 1999-2021 |
| 14. | Steve Smith | 42 | 2010-2023 |
| 15. | Sanath Jaysuriya | 42 | 1989–2011 |
| 16. | Shivnarine Chanderpaul | 41 | 1994–2015 |
| 17. | Younis Khan | 41 | 2000-2017 |
| 18. | Rohit Sharma | 41 | 2007–2022 |
| 19. | Matthew Hayden | 40 | 1983-2009 |
| 20. | Ross Taylor | 40 | 2006-2022 |
Facts about the top 20 list
The top 20 list of batsmen includes four Indian, Sri Lankan, and Australian cricketers each, while three players are from South Africa and West Indies each and two players are from Pakistan. As such, the top 20 players with the most number of centuries belong to just 6 nations.
Interestingly, there are there Indian cricketers in the top 10 list of the cricketers while South Africa and Sri Lanka both have two players each.
Another important statistic is that Indian batsman Rohit Sharma is the only batsman in the world to have scored the most number of centuries in T20 matches – 4 centuries. Chris Gayle has scored 2 centuries, while Virat Kohli has scored only one century in T20 matches.
Besides the players listed above, Virender Sehwag, Ross Taylor, and Alastair Cook have also scored 38 centuries each.
Kohli’s rise in rankings
Virat Kohli’s recent century against Sri Lanka, led him to equal Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 20 ODI centuries at home. Impressively, Virat Kohli managed to accomplish the feat in just 101 games whereas it took 164 games for Tendulkar.
Moreover, Kohli also broke Sachin Tendulkar’s ODI record for most centuries versus Sri Lanka. The 34-year-old now needs just 180 more runs to feature in the top 5 all-time ODI run scorers. Kohli is currently, just behind Tendulkar, Sangakkara, Ponting, Jayasuriya, and Jayawardene in the elite ranking.
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