India is traditionally known to be a batting country and has produced many great batsmen over the last century. Their batters score truckloads of runs in both Tests and ODIs, thus setting up the bowlers to win matches for the team. So it is obvious that in Indian cricket history, we have had many batting superstars compared to the bowling ones’.
There have been innumerable records created by the batsmen of yesteryear from India, and the country has produced at least one great batsman in almost all generations. One such batting record of which an Indian is a proud owner is that of the most centuries in international cricket across all formats.
So, in this article, we will dwell in detail on the top 10 batsmen from India with the most centuries across all 3 formats of international cricket (Tests, ODIs, and T20Is).
Most Centuries for India in All Formats
| Player | Total 100s | Test 100s | ODI 100s | T20I 100s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sachin Tendulkar | 100 | 51 | 49 | 0 |
| Virat Kohli | 81 | 30 | 50 | 1 |
| Rahul Dravid | 48 | 36 | 12 | 0 |
| Rohit Sharma | 48 | 12 | 31 | 5 |
| Virender Sehwag | 38 | 23 | 15 | 0 |
| Sourav Ganguly | 38 | 16 | 22 | 0 |
| Sunil Gavaskar | 35 | 34 | 1 | 0 |
| Mohammad Azharuddin | 29 | 22 | 7 | 0 |
| Shikhar Dhawan | 24 | 7 | 17 | 0 |
| VVS Laxman | 23 | 17 | 6 | 0 |
| Gautam Gambhir | 20 | 9 | 11 | 0 |
Key insights from the above stats
100: Centuries hit by the legendary Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar across formats in international cricket, and it is the most 100s scored by any cricketer in international cricket.
The master blaster from India is arguably regarded as the best batter after Sir Don Bradman, and his consistency to score runs at will is one of the reasons why he is hailed in such a manner. He has also hit the most half-centuries (164) across formats in 782 innings.
Sachin has hit 51 centuries in Test cricket, which is again the most by any batsman in the longest format of the game. He is miles ahead of the rest in this regard, as the only active cricketer who is close to matching Sachin’s mark is Steve Smith, who has 32 tons till now in Tests. Similarly, in ODIs, Sachin leads the pack with 49 centuries, but the record is in danger as Virat Kohli, with 46 ODI centuries, is inching closer to breaching the 50 ODI centuries mark.
76: Virat Kohli has the second-most number of centuries in international cricket with 76 tons to his name in 559 innings he has played across formats. He is still actively playing, unlike Sachin, and he has an outside chance at having a crack at the former’s unbelievable record of scoring 100 tons. As mentioned, he is sitting in 2nd place with 46 ODI centuries and has 29 Test centuries to his credit to go along with a solitary T20I century that came last year.
7: Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, and Virender Sehwag have all hit 7 double centuries in international cricket, and this is the most by any Indian batter. While Sachin Tendulkar and Sehwag have a double century in ODIs as well, all of Kohli’s 7 double tons came in the Test format. It is to be noted that Sehwag converted 2 of his Test doubles into triple centuries.
38: Number of centuries scored by the mercurial Indian opener Virender Sehwag in international cricket. This has come at a whopping strike rate of 92.48 as the era he played didn’t have significant T20 cricket and the fact that he played only 19 T20I innings for India. Sehwag had scored 15 ODI centuries and 23 100s in Tests in just about 431 innings.
2: The current captain and coach of Indian cricket, Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma, stand in the 3rd and 4th position, respectively, in the list of all-time century-makers for India across all formats. Dravid ended his career with 48 tons (36 in Tests and 12 ODIs) in 599 innings, while Rohit is just 6 hundreds shy of breaching the 50 international centuries mark.
Rohit Sharma has the most T20I hundreds at 4 and mustered a further 10 in Tests. His best format is arguably the ODIs, where he has smashed 30 centuries and has a good chance to move up the ladder even more.
3: When we look at this prolific list of batters who have scored the maximum number of centuries for India, the list is mostly dominated by right-handers, and there are only 3 left-handed batsmen featured in the same. They are former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly and 2 of the finest former Indian opening batters, Shikhar Dhawan and Gautam Gambhir.
Ganguly ended his career with 38 centuries, which include 22 ODI tons and the rest came in Test cricket. He did all this in 485 innings at an average of over 41, which is highly commendable. Likewise, Shikhar Dhawan and Gambhir scored 24 and 20 centuries, respectively, with a career average that is a shade under 40. These left-handed batters paved the way for many of India’s memorable wins across formats, both overseas and at home.
35: The number of international centuries scored by the little master and former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar. He was the first to reach the 10,000-run mark in Tests and out of the total hundreds, 34 of them came in the longest format of the game, and he made only one solitary century in ODI cricket.
Regarded as the best Test opener of all time, his 33 Test centuries at that position are still unmatched and may not be breached any time soon.
2: Two of the most elegant stroke makers in Indian cricket history, Mohammad Azharuddin and VVS Laxman, also find a place in the country’s all-time century makers list. While the former skipper Azharddin scored 29 tons across formats for India, Laxman hit 23 centuries in 308 innings. Both of these players predominantly played in the middle order and won many games for India.
Read Next: India’s Best ODI XI of All Time
