Scoring a Century is anytime a special moment for Batsmen!
But, it is more special when those Centuries contribute to the team’s victory. It’s a different thing altogether.
Do you know Australia never lost a single ODI match whenever Adam Gilchrist scored a Century?
All his 16 ODI Centuries resulted in Australia’s wins. That’s brilliant 100%!
Even in Tests, only one out of Gilly’s 17 Test Centuries resulted in Australia’s loss.
Among the players who have scored more than 20 centuries in ODI, Hashim Amla leads the chart with 89% of his Centuries coming in winning matches for his team – South Africa.
Now, walk with me deep to know more about the players who have scored the most winning Centuries in ODI!
Players with Most Centuries in winning cause
It is not surprising that the two ‘Master Indian Batsmen’ lead the chart for the maximum centuries in winning ODI matches.
Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli are currently the only two batsmen to have 30+ ODI Centuries coming in winning cause.
Here’s the list:
| BATSMEN | COUNTRY | WINNING 100S |
|---|---|---|
| V Kohli | INDIA | 42 |
| S Tendulkar | INDIA | 33 |
| R Ponting | AUSTRALIA | 25 |
| H Amla | SOUTH AFRICA | 24 |
| S Jayasuriya | SRI LANKA | 24 |
| R Sharma | INDIA | 24 |
| AB de Villiers | SOUTH AFRICA | 21 |
| Q de Kock | SOUTH AFRICA | 18 |
| T Dilshan | SRI LANKA | 18 |
| S Ganguly | INDIA | 18 |
| K Sangakkara | SRI LANKA | 18 |
What to expect?
Virat Kohli, the fastest batsman to 30 ODI Hundreds in a winning cause, also has a chance to reach the 50 mark.
Here’s my prediction: How many Centuries will Virat end up within ODIs?
Also, there is Hashim Amla, next in line to the 30+ mark. But with him nearing 36, I don’t see him competing with Virat here.
Rohit Sharma had an excellent last three years – 2016, 2017 & 2018. His averages never went down below 60 in these years.
And that will put him, next in this line.
The other current players who are behind him in the line are:
New Zealand’s Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor have 13 Winning centuries in ODIs & India’s Shikhar Dhawan – 12.
Also, Quinton De Kock (SA), Joe Root (ENG), and David Warner (AUS) have reached the count of 10 recently.
Highest Percentage of ODI Centuries in winning cause
As I mentioned at the top of this article, it is Adam Gilchrist who scored all his Centuries as the match winning hundreds for his team Australia. That’s 100%.
Next in the line comes – Desmond Haynes of West Indies, who had scored 16 out of 17 in the matches, his team won. That’s freaking too – 94%!
And, here is how the top century scorers in the format, ranks in the percentage of Winning Hundreds:
| BATSMEN | TOTAL 100S | WINNING 100S | 'WINNING 100'% |
|---|---|---|---|
| V Kohli | 50 | 42 | 84% |
| S Tendulkar | 49 | 33 | 67% |
| R Ponting | 30 | 25 | 83% |
| H Amla | 27 | 24 | 89% |
| S Jayasuriya | 28 | 24 | 86% |
| R Sharma | 31 | 24 | 77% |
| AB de Villiers | 25 | 21 | 84% |
| Q de Kock | 21 | 18 | 85% |
| S Ganguly | 22 | 18 | 82% |
| T Dilshan | 22 | 18 | 82% |
| K Sangakkara | 25 | 18 | 72% |
| DA Warner | 22 | 17 | 77% |
| DL Haynes | 17 | 16 | 94% |
| S Anwar | 20 | 16 | 80% |
Why is it not important?
It is also important to understand that these percentages don’t mean that these players failed to play their part.
A Batsman’s Century alone cannot win a match. There are also other departments in Cricket contributing to a team’s victory.
If you look at the chart closely, you can see the players in the top half belongs to the better teams. They have/had better bowling units to add to their century knocks.
Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting had world-class bowlers to compliment their batting superlative. And so do Hasim Amla and AB de Villiers.
Sachin Tendulkar, the master batsman in his days, had to fine-tune with some ordinary bowling units on his side. In fact, a few of his Closing centuries in ODI has taken the team forward in many cases, like the one in Sharjah – in 1998, where India lost the match but qualified for the final by NRR, thanks to Sachin’s 143. It was also one of the best and most remembered knocks in the ODI format.
Also, in another of his Century Innings against Australia – 175 vs Australia in Hyderabad, 2009, Sachin single-handedly took India to a near-win situation, losing only by 3 runs against Australia’s 350.
Not every time, you can win matches by just scoring Hundreds. It would help if you had your team’s support.
Conclusion
Virat Kohli, who already holds the top rank in multiple chasing records by a huge lead, is shining here too.
And, he is not done yet. It is also safe to say, he is just at the mid-point of his career.
With ODI leagues and more Cricketing days to come, I am curious to see the numbers at which Kohli ends up his career.
Thanks for Reading!
