Scoring centuries is fascinating. It takes patience to register one, be it whatever format. The joy on the face of the batsman when they reach this milestone speaks about the value of scoring a ton. This feat might be tough but few know the magic formula of converting their stable starts into dazzling triple figure mark pretty consistently. Each country have had their special players who were capable of achieving such feats.
Here in this listicle, Sportzwiki has put down the names of the leading century scorers in ODI cricket.
Sachin Tendulkar – 49 (India):
For anyone, who has the slightest idea of what is cricket, would surely know about Sachin Tendulkar. He accomplished feats which most of the batsmen don’t even know that they exist at one point in time. Jumping directly to the topic, the Indian batting maestro is the leading century scorer in cricket overall (needless to mention India). These 49 century combined with the 51 he scored in the Test format aggregate to a mind-boggling 100 centuries in his entire career.
Ricky Ponting – 30 (Australia):
Australia’s best batting prodigy since Don Bradman, Ricky Ponting wasn’t any ordinary batsman. All throughout his career he was either competing with Sachin Tendulkar or was arguably at par with the master. This great batsman made his ODI debut against South Africa at Wellington in 1995. His maiden century came against Sri Lanka at Melbourne in just his 12th match of his career. And, by the time he called it a day in the ODI format, Ponting had scored 30 centuries in his ODI career spanning 17 long years.
Sanath Jayasuriya – 28 (Sri Lanka):
Sanath Jayasuriya redefined batting in the limited overs cricket. The left-hander from Matara always wore a smile off the field but was a ruthless murderer of the ball when wielding bat on the 22-yard strip. His most memorable ODI performance has to be his 1996 World Cup heroics. Jayasuriya has scored 28 centuries in his career in the 445 ODIs he played in his career. His highest score being 189* against India at Sharjah.
Hashim Amla – 24 (South Africa):
If the fans were to nominate the calmest living cricketer ever in the history of world cricket, then Hashim Amla would run away with the title without any doubt. But, that is what we look in a cricketer, right? The South African opener is much more famous for his run-scoring abilities than his personal characteristics. The right-hander, who made his debut in 2008, has played 147 ODIs while breaking many records in this format along the way. One noticeable record among them is that, with 24 centuries, he holds the distinction of having the most number of centuries in the Proteas history.
Chris Gayle – 22 (West Indies):
Chris Gayle, the Jamaican giant, made his debut for West Indies against India at Toronto in 1999. Two years later he scored his first century against Kenya. He has scored 22 centuries in his career. In 2015, he also became only the 4th player to hit a double hundred in ODIs and the 1st to do so in World Cup cricket when he scored 215 against the helpless Zimbabwe bowling attack at Canberra.
Saeed Anwar – 20 (Pakistan):
Pakistan great Saeed Anwar defined fluent strokeplay. The left-hander, who played 247 ODIs started his career on new year’s day in 1989 and went on to score 8824 runs at an average of 39.21. The most satisfying part of his career was his penchant for scoring centuries. In all, he made 20 tons in his career, more than any other Pakistani cricketer ever in the ODI format. He also held the record for the highest ODI score (194 against India) till Sachin Tendulkar overtook him with his ODI double century.
Ross Taylor – 17 (New Zealand):
Ross Taylor has been the batting saviour for New Zealand ever since his start of the cricketing career. On the back of his solid domestic performances, Taylor made his debut in 2006 against South Africa in at Christchurch. It didn’t take him much long to open his ‘centuries’ account as he went on to smash one in just his third match. However, his century making frequency dropped later and his struggle with form also became a roadblock in his international career. However, Taylor has been unstoppable and currently plays the role of the backbone in the Blackcaps line up. Thus, far in the 180 ODIs, he has made 17 centuries and recently surpassed Nathan Astle as the country’s leading century maker.
Marcus Trescothick – 12 (England):
The stylish left-handed batsman, Marcus Trescothick was one of the finest cricketers to have ever played for England. In his short yet quality career spanning six-year, Marcus made a good impact for his team as its most reliable opener in the both Tests and ODIs. After making his debut in 2000 against Zimbabwe at the Oval, Marcus went n to make 4335 runs in 123 ODIs at an average of 37.37 The most interesting part of his career was the 12 centuries he made during his time as an active international cricketer. Ironically, this happens to be the most by any English batsman. The only English cricketer who has ever can close to him was Kevin Pietersen with 9 ODI centuries.
Brendon Taylor – 8 (Zimbabwe):
Brendan Taylor was arguably one of the most talented batsmen to have emerged from Zimbabwe. His ODI career was quite wonderful. He captained Zimbabwe in ODIs until 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup before retiring abruptly and also was the first Zimbabwean batsman to hit back-to-back One-Day International centuries scoring 128 not out and 107 not out against New Zealand in October 2011. In all, he played 167 ODIs and made 8 centuries overall surpassing Alistair Campbell (7).
Shakib al Hasan – 6 (Bangladesh):
Bangladesh’s most iconic cricketer Shakib al Hasan leads the century’s chart for his country. The left-handed all-rounder has thus far made 6 centuries in his illustrious career. He made his debut in 2006 against Zimbabwe at Harare and has so far played 166 ODIs for his country, scoring 6176 runs at an average of 34.70. For about a decade now, Shakib has been one of the most reliable players in the Bangladesh cricket team.