Running between the wickets is an essential part of One Day Internationals (ODI) cricket. It’s very crucial for a batsman to rotate strike continuously in middle overs so that there is no pressure to hit boundaries on every ball. Usually those batsmen are successful in ODI cricket who have good strike rotating abilities.
Finding the gaps is an art in ODI cricket. That’s why we have seen many big hitters like Pollard , Russell who haven’t performed well in ODI cricket because they are not good rotators of strike. Batsmen should also have a furious speed while running between the wickets, putting extra pressure on the fielder.
Most triple runs come when a fielder stops a boundary near the ropes. In such situations , batsmen should be proactive to run the triple. The sprinting speed should also be very high to run a triple with good stamina.
This article will look at the top 10 batsmen who have taken the most number of ‘triple runs’ in the history of ODI Cricket.
Note: The data below only has the numbers recorded after the ball-by-ball commentary arrived in cricket in the early 2000s. For instance, Kumar Sangakkara was involved in 380 innings, but only 358 innings were recorded using ball-by-ball tracking, and only half of legendary Sachin Tendulkar’s career innings were included.
PLAYERS | TRIPLES | INNS |
---|---|---|
Ricky Ponting | 146 | 281 |
Kumar Sangakkara | 140 | 358 |
Mahela Jayawardene | 126 | 357 |
Adam Gilchrist | 115 | 210 |
Michael Clarke | 107 | 223 |
Tilakartne Dilshan | 101 | 289 |
Sanath Jayasuriya | 93 | 222 |
Marvan Atapattu | 82 | 151 |
Martin Guptil | 81 | 185 |
David Warner | 81 | 126 |
Stats Insights
One of most successful captains Ricky Ponting has run the most number of triples (146) in history of ODI cricket. He has also scored the most number of runs among all batsmen in this list. Adma Gilchrist has the best ODI strike rate among all these batsmen.
Australia has the largest cricket ground in the world. So it favors running a triple in Australian grounds as the ball stops several times just near the boundary ropes. That’s one of the biggest reasons why we see 4 Australian batsmen on this list.
David Warner also has the frequency rate of Triple runs in history of ODI cricket. Warner is an very energetic and fast sprinter who gives his everything while running between the wickets.
The list is dominated by Australian and Srilankan players. Srilanka too has big grounds like Australia. In these long grounds , running between the wickets plays a crucial role.
Inclusion of Martin Guptil in this list is a surprise because of the fact that New Zealand grounds are mostly small in size. No Indian finds a place on this list. It would be tough for anybody to break this record of Ponting in future.