One of the hardest things about being a batter in cricket is the continuous expectation kept on them by the audience and team management alike to score runs and more runs.
The number of centuries is a key indicator of how consistent a batter, especially a top-order batter, is. This is because they have the chance to bat maximum overs, and ideally, they are more often than not expected to score a big daddy century.
One may argue that cricket is a batsman’s game, but they still have to score runs while also keeping modern-day pitches in mind. In this article, we will not just focus on the number of centuries scored by a batter but also the fastest to score 20 of them in this format.
Fastest to 20 ODI Centuries
| Player | Team | Innings to 20 Centuries |
|---|---|---|
| Hashim Amla | South Africa | 108 |
| Virat Kohli | India | 133 |
| David Warner | Australia | 142 |
| Quinton de Kock | South Africa | 150 |
| AB de Villiers | South Africa | 175 |
| Rohit Sharma | India | 183 |
| Ross Taylor | New Zealand | 195 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | India | 197 |
| Sourav Ganguly | India | 214 |
| Herschelle Gibbs | South Africa | 217 |
Key insights from the above stats
4: Number of Indian players who make it to the list, namely Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, and Sourav Ganguly. They are followed by South Africa, which has 3 representatives in the form of Hashim Amla, Herschelle Gibbs, and AB de Villiers.
14: The number of cricketers to have scored 20 or more ODI centuries in their respective careers. The ones that are not on the list but have scored over 20 ODI hundreds are Australia’s Ricky Ponting (30 centuries) and then the Sri Lankan trio of Kumar Sangakkara (25), Sanath Jayasuriya (28) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (22).
108: Hashim Amla became the fastest-ever cricketer in the ODI format to hit the 20-century mark when he scored his 20th ton against Ireland at Manuka Oval in the ICC World Cup 2015 fixture. He took just 108 innings to achieve the milestone. In his career, Amla scored 27 international ODI tons in 178 innings, scoring 8113 runs at a sensational average of 49.47, and one has to say that these numbers are simply amazing.
133: Hashim Amla broke the record held by India’s Virat Kohli, who reached the same mark in 133 innings. The star Indian batter is still going great guns when it comes to making centuries, and at present, he has 46 of them in just 265 innings. Kohli is just a few runs shy of breaching the 13000-run mark.
175: Next on this incredible list is the former South African legendary batter AB de Villiers, who took 175 innings to breach the 20 ODI century tally. Known as the Mr. 360 of cricket, de Villiers had the capability to score runs at will in any given direction and always posed challenges to even the best of the bowlers. The Proteas legend ended with 9577 runs in 218 innings at an astounding average of over 53, batting at a strike rate of just over 101 throughout his ODI career. He has hit 25 ODI hundreds overall.
183: One of the most destructive openers of all time in ODIs, Rohit Sharma has taken 183 innings to reach the 20-century mark in the format. The current captain of the Indian team has the ability to tear up any best bowling lineup on his day and currently has 30 ODI tons in 237 innings, with 264 runs at Eden Garden against Sri Lanka being his best score in ODIs.
195: Ross Taylor moved past Sachin Tendulkar’s record in this list when he smashed his 20th ODI hundred in his 195th innings for New Zealand. Taylor, one of the Blackcap’s best-ever cricketers, scored his 20th ton against Sri Lanka at Saxton Oval and made 1 more to end his career ODI ton total at 21 from 220 innings at an average of just under 48.
197: Sachin Tendulkar is arguably one of the greatest batters ever, and his supreme batting skills mean he is the proud owner of many of the batting records in cricket. But it took him 197 innings to reach the 20 ODI century mark, and he ended his career as the player with the most number of centuries in ODI cricket with 49 tons in 452 ODI innings. Sachin was also the first person in ODI history to score an ODI double ton.
214: Another Indian player who makes it to the list is the former skipper of the team, Sourav Ganguly, who hit his 20th ton in only 214 innings. The left-hander was one of the finest ODI batters in his era and was one of the few people to have breached the 10,000-run mark in ODIs at that time. He scored 22 tons overall at 41.02 in 300 innings.
217: Herschelle Gibbs, the third Proteas batter on the list, has taken 217 innings to complete his 20th ODI ton, with this one coming at the Wanderers Stadium against the West Indies in 2008, and he ended his career with 8094 runs in 240 innings.
The list is completed by the left-hand duo of Saeed Anwar and Chris Gayle, both of whom are destructive in their own ways when it comes to ODI cricket. Chris Gayle took 226 innings to score his 20th ODI century, and it came against New Zealand in 2012 before going on to make 5 more in this 50-over career for the West Indies.
The Pakistani legend Saeed Anwar, who was also known to be a prolific batter in his days, took 243 innings to reach the landmark. It came against India at SuperSport Park in the 2003 World Cup fixture and was his penultimate ODI innings. He averaged 39.22 and scored over 8000 runs in this illustrious career.
