A Man of the Match award is given to a player who plays really well in a game, helping their team win. These players are very important because they can change the outcome of a game, no matter how tough it is. They earn the respect of their teammates and become essential players.
But it’s not easy to play so well all the time. Only a few players consistently deliver outstanding performances. So, only a small group of players have won many Man of the Match awards. It takes a lot of skill, focus, calmness, and discipline to achieve this. Every country has produced only a few players who win Man of the Match awards often.
Now, let’s see the five players who have won the most Man of the Match awards in international cricket.
5. Kumar Sangakkara – 50
Kumar Sangakkara used to play cricket for Sri Lanka. He was really good at scoring runs and hitting the ball in a smooth way. He was especially good at hitting the ball to the cover area. When he was the captain, he didn’t win a big tournament in 2011, but he did win the T20 World Cup three years later when he was just a player.
He was a great batsman, especially in Test cricket, where he scored an average of 57.40 runs in 134 matches. Sangakkara also played over 400 One-day matches. He has the second-highest number of runs in One-day cricket with 14,234 runs. In total, he played 594 international matches and got 50 awards for being the best player in those matches.
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4. Jacques Kallis – 57
Jacques Kallis started playing Test cricket in 1995 against England. He ended his career 18 years later, also playing against India, at the same place where he started, Kingsmead in Durban. Throughout his long career, he was known as a great cricketer.
Kallis was good at both batting and bowling. He scored more than 10,000 runs in Test and One Day International (ODI) cricket. He also took over 200 wickets. Kallis scored 45 centuries in Test matches, which is the second-highest number. He was awarded as the best player in 57 matches out of the 519 international matches he played.
3. Virat Kohli – 57
The current captain of India’s cricket team, Virat Kohli, is really good at playing cricket. He’s great at scoring runs in Test matches, one-day internationals (ODIs), and Twenty20 internationals (T20Is). In ODIs, he’s especially good, scoring over 12,000 runs with an average of almost 60.
Virat Kohli has been ranked as the best player in Tests and ODIs many times and was the top player in one-day cricket for 36 months. Even though he hasn’t won a big international trophy for India yet, he’s still considered one of the best Indian captains ever. In his career so far, he’s played 436 matches and won the man of the match award 57 times.
2. Sanath Jayasuriya – 58
Sanath Jayasuriya was a famous cricket player from Sri Lanka. He was really good at starting the game by hitting the ball hard from the beginning. He was especially known for this when he played as the first batter. Both in long and short cricket games, he was very aggressive. In Test matches, his hitting rate was 65.18 and in One Day International matches, it was 91.20.
In One Day International matches, he played 445 times and scored more than 13000 runs, which is a lot. He’s the third most experienced player in this type of cricket. Jayasuriya started playing in World Cups from 1996. He changed the way people played this type of cricket by being very aggressive. He won 58 awards for being the best player in 586 international matches.
1. Sachin Tendulkar – 76
Sachin Tendulkar, a famous Indian cricket player, tops this list because he holds many records in Test and ODI cricket. He started playing for India in 1989 and continued until 2013, which is a long time. Tendulka scored the most runs in both Test and ODI cricket matches and played the most games in these formats.
He scored 15,921 runs in 200 Test matches with an average of 53.79 and made 51 centuries, with his highest score being 248. In ODIs, he scored 18,426 runs in 463 matches. He holds the record for the most centuries in both Test and ODI cricket, with 51 in Tests and 49 in ODIs. These records are not likely to be broken soon. He also won 76 “man of the match” awards in his 664 international matches, which is more than anyone else.
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