In the past, cricket players used to have long careers because they mainly played Test and domestic cricket. But as new formats like one-day internationals and Twenty20 were introduced, it became tough for players to participate in all types of matches.
However, some players adapted well to the changes, staying fit and improving their skills to match the demands of modern cricket.
we’ll talk about 10 players who have played the most international matches in their careers.
10. Virat Kohli – 500 matches
Virat Kohli is the only player in the top 10 list who has played the most international cricket matches. He has played 500 matches for India since he started in 2008. He played 111 Test matches, 274 One Day Internationals (ODIs), and 115 Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is). In those matches, he scored 8555 runs in Tests, 12898 runs in ODIs, and 4008 runs in T20Is. Kohli has made 75 centuries in total, which means he scored 100 runs or more in a single match. He’s second in the list of players with the most centuries, just behind Sachin Tendulkar, who has 100 centuries in international cricket.
9. Rahul Dravid – 509 matches
Rahul Dravid, who used to lead India’s cricket team, played in 509 matches for India between 1996 and 2012. He started impressively in Test matches against England in 1996 by scoring 95 runs. After that, he kept playing well.
Overall, he played 164 Test matches and scored 13288 runs, making 36 centuries. In 344 One Day International (ODI) matches, he scored 10889 runs and made 12 centuries. He even had the second-fastest fifty by an Indian in ODIs. He played one Twenty20 International (T20I) match and scored 31 runs.
Dravid was in the Indian team that made it to the final of the 2003 World Cup and shared the victory in the 2002 Champions Trophy. He was also the captain of the Indian team in the 2007 World Cup
8. Jacques Kallis – 519 matches
Jacques Kallis was a really good cricket player. He played for South Africa and was amazing at both batting and bowling. People even compared him to Sir Garfield Sobers, another legendary cricketer.
Kallis played in 519 international matches starting from 1995. In Test matches, which are the longest form of the game, he played 166 times. He scored 13289 runs and took 292 wickets. In shorter matches called One Day Internationals (ODIs), he played 328 times. He scored 11579 runs and took 273 wickets there too. He also played 25 matches in a quicker format called Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is), where he scored 666 runs and took 12 wickets.
Kallis retired from cricket in 2014. He was part of the South African team that won a big tournament called the ICC Knockout Trophy in 1998. They won this trophy in Bangladesh.
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7. Shahid Afridi – 524 matches
Shahid Afridi, also known as Boom Boom Afridi, is one of Pakistan’s most famous cricketers, like Imran Khan. He became famous when he scored the fastest century in one-day internationals (ODIs) at just 16 years old in 1996, taking only 37 balls against Sri Lanka.
Throughout his career, Afridi retired and came back to cricket several times, playing 524 matches for Pakistan. He played 27 Test matches and scored 5 centuries. But he was even better in shorter matches. In 398 ODIs, he scored 8064 runs and took 395 wickets, with his best bowling performance being 7 wickets for 12 runs.
In Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is), he scored 1416 runs and took 98 wickets in 99 matches. Afridi also led Pakistan in the 2015 World Cup and the 2016 T20 World Cup. He played a crucial role in Pakistan’s victory in the 2009 T20 World Cup.
6. MS Dhoni – 538 matches
People think MS Dhoni is one of the healthiest cricket players. He’s still playing in the IPL even though he’s over 40. He had a great career playing for India from 2004 to 2019.
He played in 90 Test matches, 350 ODIs, and 98 T20Is, scoring a total of 4876 runs, 10773 runs, and 1617 runs. Dhoni also made 16 centuries in international cricket. He caught or stumped out 829 players during his career, which is the third-highest ever. But he’s the only wicketkeeper to have made more than 100 stumpings in ODIs.
5. Ricky Ponting – 560 matches
Ricky Ponting was a really good cricket player from Australia. He played from 1995 to 2012. He led the Australian team to win the World Cup two times and also won two Champions Trophy titles.
Ponting was one of the top players of his time and people often compared him to Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara.
In total, he played 560 games for Australia. Among those, 168 were Test matches, 375 were One Day Internationals (ODIs), and 17 were Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is). Ponting scored 13378 runs in Tests, 13704 runs in ODIs, and 401 runs in T20Is. He also made 71 centuries in international matches.
4. Sanath Jayasuriya – 586 matches
Sanath Jayasuriya started his career as a bowler who batted in the eighth position. But later, he became one of the most dangerous batsmen who opened the innings in one-day cricket matches. He was really good at scoring quickly in the first 15 overs of the game.
In the 1996 World Cup, when Sri Lanka won, Jayasuriya was the best player of the tournament. He was also the first Sri Lankan to score 300 runs in a Test match, which he did against India in 1997.
During his career from 1989 to 2011, Jayasuriya played in 110 Test matches and scored almost 10,000 runs with 14 centuries. In one-day matches, he played 445 games and scored more than 13,000 runs with 28 centuries, his highest score being 189 not out. He also played 31 T20 matches and scored 629 runs.
Besides batting, he also took wickets. In Test matches, he took 98 wickets, in one-day matches he took 323 wickets, and in T20 matches, he took 19 wickets.
ALSO READ: Take a look at the Indian bowlers who have taken the most wickets in T20I cricket.
3. Kumar Sangakkara – 594 matches
Kumar Sangakkara was a really good cricket player from Sri Lanka. He started playing in the year 2000 and stopped in 2015. He played really well in the 2015 ODI World Cup in Australia, hitting four centuries.
In Test matches, he played 134 games and scored 12400 runs with 38 centuries. He’s only one of two players to score a triple century and a century in the same match, along with Graham Gooch. In One Day Internationals (ODIs), he played 404 matches and scored 14234 runs with 25 centuries. In T20 Internationals (T20Is), he played 56 matches and scored 1382 runs.
He helped Sri Lanka win the T20 World Cup in 2014 and was also the captain when they reached the final of the 2011 World Cup.
2. Mahela Jayawardene – 652 matches
Mahela Jayawardene was a really important player for Sri Lanka in cricket from the 2000s to the early 2010s. He started playing for Sri Lanka in 1997 and stopped in 2015.
He was the captain of the Sri Lankan team and did a great job. Jayawardene even led them to the final of the 2007 World Cup.
Overall, Jayawardene played 652 games for Sri Lanka over almost 20 years. He played 149 Test matches and scored 11,814 runs, including 34 centuries with his best score being 374. In 448 One Day Internationals (ODIs), he scored 12,650 runs with 19 centuries. He also played 55 Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) and scored 1,493 runs, including one century.
1. Sachin Tendulkar – 664 matches
At the top of the mountain is Sachin Tendulkar, one of the best batters in modern times. He played cricket for 24 years, starting in 1989 and ending in 2013.
He played 200 Test matches and scored 15921 runs, with 51 centuries. In One Day Internationals (ODIs), he played 463 matches and scored 18426 runs, with 49 centuries. He was the first player to score 200 runs in an ODI match.
Tendulkar also played one Twenty20 International (T20I) match and scored 10 runs. He was also good at bowling, taking 46 wickets in Test matches, 154 in ODIs, and 1 in T20I matches.
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