Scoring runs in international cricket is exceptionally tough, and scoring them against the best of the best bowlers at the highest level is even more challenging. Over the many decades of this sport’s existence, scoring runs against SENA teams (South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia) have been considered a benchmark for most batters, especially for the subcontinental sides.
This is because of the fact that historically, these nations have produced some of the best bowlers, and the conditions over there are never really easy for a batter to adapt to (if they are playing away from home). Thus, scoring centuries by a batter versus SENA countries holds a lot of significance.
Here we will see the top 10 batters who have scored the most centuries against New Zealand, Australia, England, and South Africa (SENA) in all formats.
Indian Batters with Most Centuries Against SENA (All Formats)
Player | Innings | 100s | High Score |
---|---|---|---|
Sachin Tendulkar | 417 | 50 | 241* |
Virat Kohli | 368 | 42 | 254* |
Rohit Sharma | 278 | 26 | 212 |
Rahul Dravid | 298 | 19 | 233 |
Virender Sehwag | 225 | 19 | 319 |
Sourav Ganguly | 228 | 16 | 153* |
Mohammad Azharuddin | 217 | 15 | 192 |
Sunil Gavaskar | 170 | 15 | 221 |
VVS Laxman | 170 | 13 | 281 |
Cheteshwar Pujara | 146 | 13 | 206* |
Key insights from the above stats
50: Sachin Tendulkar leads the century tally against SENA countries with 50 tons, roughly about half of his career hundreds. This is not just the highest among the Indian players but overall (all non-SENA nations included). He has an outstanding average of 45.97 against the 4 sides across formats. Out of this, 21 came in tough away games and 4 more in neutral venues.
10: Only these 10 Indian batters have scored more than 10 centuries against SENA teams in their respective careers. There have been 80 Indian batters who have scored at least one century against SENA in their international careers.
3: The number of Indian batters to have scored 10000 or more international runs against SENA, and they are Sachin, Virat Kohli, and Rahul Dravid. Rohit Sharma, with over 9100 runs, comes close to breaching the mark.
Sachin, with 8283 runs in ODIs and 9501 in Tests, has a healthy lead over the other Indian batters against SENA, while in T20Is, it’s Virat Kohli with 2000+ runs.
Also Read | 10 Unbreakable Sachin Tendulkar Records
29: The number of Test centuries struck by Sachin Tendulkar against the SENA countries, again the highest by anyone. Virat Kohli comes next in line among the Indian batters, while Rahul Dravid has hit 17 centuries. (Check out Virat Kohli’s list of hundreds in Tests and ODIs.)
22: Virat Kohli has amassed over 22 ODI centuries against the 4 sides, with Sachin coming in 2nd with 21 centuries, and the next best Indian batter is Rohit Sharma, who has 15 tons. (Check out Rohit Sharma’s tally of centuries here.)
2: As far as the T20I goes, Rohiit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav have made 2 centuries each against SENA countries. The other 3 Indian batters to have made a T20I century against them are KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, and Shubman Gill.
49.00: The batting average of Virat Kohli against SENA across all formats of the game. He leads the pack as far as the Indian batters are concerned, and the next best is the great Vijay Hazare, who averaged 47.38 in 29 innings against SENA teams, scoring 1232 runs with 4 centuries.