Acing a format is quite a feat for any cricketer, and the modern-day player must have the skill of adapting to 3 different formats (ODIs, T20Is, and Tests), with each one having its own challenges. Cricketers from the previous generation didn’t have T20 cricket during their time, and it was either Tests, ODIs, or both of them.
Even then, it was hard to get into the Indian side in both of these formats, and it needed a lot of varied skill sets and talent to be part of both the Indian squads and represent them for a long time.
We have seen many players fade out of a format or 2 after a while, and this article discusses Indian players who have represented the country at the highest level at least 100 times both in Tests and ODIs.
Indian Players to Play 100 Tests & 100 ODIs
| Player | Tests | ODIs |
|---|---|---|
| Sunil Gavaskar | 125 | 108 |
| Dilip Vengsarkar | 116 | 129 |
| Kapil Dev | 131 | 225 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 200 | 463 |
| Anil Kumble | 132 | 269 |
| Rahul Dravid | 163 | 340 |
| Sourav Ganguly | 113 | 308 |
| Virender Sehwag | 103 | 241 |
| Harbhajan Singh | 103 | 234 |
| Virat Kohli | 123 | 295 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | 106 | 116 |
Key Insights
11 Indian players have completed the double of playing 100 Tests and ODIs in their respective illustrious careers, and Sunil Gavaskar was the first player from India to complete this feat.
This reduces to 8 if we consider players who have played 200 ODIs and 100 Tests. Ravichandran Ashwin, Sunil Gavaskar, and Dilip Vengsarkar didn’t play that many ODIs.
Only Virat Kohli has represented India in 100 or more matches in all 3 formats.
3 other Indian players have played over 100 Tests but didn’t feature in 100 or more ODIs for India. VVS Laxman, Ishant Sharma, and Cheteshwar Pujara played 86, 80, and 5 ODIs, respectively.
Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar are the only 2 Indian players to play at least 150 games in each of the Test and ODI formats.
Sachin Tendulkar leads the tally with regards to most international appearances for India. He played 664 international games, of which 663 came across Tests and ODIs alone, while he played 1 T20I game for India.
Sachin Tendulkar leads the runs tally with 34357 runs in all formats combined for India in international cricket and is the highest run scorer in both Tests (15921) and ODIs (18426).
Likewise, Anil Kumble has the most wickets in all formats combined for India, with 953 scalps. While 619 came in Tests, Kumble also leads the Indian ODI wicket tally with the magical number 337.
