Nowadays, there is a reduction in the number of Test matches played. With the ever-expanding window sizes for the domestic league matches and cricket being expanded to a three-format game, the days allocated to the longer formats have come down.
However, Test cricket hasn’t lost its attraction as the games played between the super powers – Australia, India, and England never fail to get the needed attractions from the cricket audience. Similar to the Ashes (the 100-year-long rival Test series between Australia and England), the Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia, and the Pataudi Trophy, played between India and England, have also raised to 5-match tournaments from 2023.
One can also find the dominance of these three teams in the list below, which depicts the list of current non-retired players who have played the most number of Test matches.
Most Test Matches among Current Players
| CURRENT PLAYERS | TEST MATCHES | RUNS | WICKETS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Root (ENG) | 146 | 12402 | 69 |
| Nathan Lyon (AUS) | 129 | 1521 | 530 |
| Virat Kohli (IND) | 113 | 8848 | 0 |
| Angelo Mathews (SL) | 112 | 7766 | 33 |
| Steve Smith (AUS) | 109 | 9685 | 19 |
| Ishant Sharma (IND) | 105 | 785 | 311 |
| Ben Stokes (ENG) | 105 | 6508 | 203 |
| Cheteshwar Pujara (IND) | 103 | 7195 | 0 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin (IND) | 100 | 3309 | 516 |
| Jonny Bairstow (ENG) | 100 | 6042 | 0 |
Key Stats
Eight out of ten players on the list are from India, England, and Australia.
In the following ten list, we have Jonny Bairstow, Tim Southee, Kane Williamson, Steve Smith, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ben Stokes, Dimuth Karunaratne, Mushfiqur Rahim, Ajinkya Rahane and Kraigg Brathwaite.
James Anderson and Sachin Tendulkar are the only two cricketers to be part of both top 10 lists of Test cricketers with the most wins and losses.
Ben Stokes is the only all-rounder in the top-20s, whereas Rahim of Bangladesh is the only wicketkeeper. Otherwise, the names in the list are primarily pure batters or bowlers.
Although Bairstow comes under the wk-batsman, he only kept wickets in 50% of the Tests he has played till now.
Only Anderson and Broad have played over 150 Test matches among the modern-day Test cricketers. Find the legendary list of cricketers with more than 150 Test matches here.
