Stats: Most centuries by a batsman in international cricket

For as long as cricket continues to exist, the debate of who is the best batsmen will continue to as well. Scoring a century is no easy feat and thus a look at who has the most centuries is a good yardstick to measure some of the best batsmen to have played the game.

While the list of batsmen with most centuries in international cricket is stacked in favor of modern players, it still gives a good indication of who have done well and separates the very good to the best in the business. Courtesy of his century in the Test between South Africa and Bangladesh, Hashim Amla went level with Brian Lara and is now in sixth spot.

Among current players, Amla has the most international tons (53) and is one of only three current batsman to feature in the top ten along with Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.

Having played more games than any other international cricketer and having most records in ODIs, it is not surprising that Sachin Tendulkar holds the all-time record for most centuries in international cricket. With 100 centuries to his name, it is fair to say that no one is taking away the world record of most centuries from Sachin anytime soon.

The fact that he has 29 more than his nearest competitor and 47 more than the current player with most international centuries, it would be a huge surprise if Sachin’s record is broken in the foreseeable future, if not forever.

Sri Lanka has two players, South Africa both have three players feature in this list while India have Kohli and Rahul Dravid aside from Sachin, while there is just a player each from Australia and West Indies. Ricky Ponting, who is Australia’s all-time leading run-scorer, makes it into this list and even his record of 71 centuries that gives him second place is unlikely to be in immediate threat.

In third place is Sri Lanka’s wicketkeeper-batsman, Kumar Sangakkara, who finished his international career with 63 centuries and Jacques Kallis takes fourth place with 62 centuries in just 519 matches. Rounding off the top five is Mahela Jayawardene, who finished eight centuries behind and one of only seven batsmen to have scored more than 50 centuries in international cricket.

Hashim Amla became the seventh player to score 50 international centuries and the quickest to the mark as well after he got to the mark in the fifth ODI against Sri Lanka, taking him eight clear of his compatriot AB de Villiers, who has 45 and takes the tenth spot.

Here is the complete list of players with most centuries across all formats.

Batsmen with most centuries in international cricket

No.	Name	Number of games	Number of 100s
1.	Sachin Tendulkar (IND)	664	100
2.	Ricky Ponting (AUS)	560	71
3.	Kumar Sangakkara (SL)	594	63
4.	Jacques Kallis (SA)	519	62
5.	Mahela Jayawardene (SL)	652	54
6.	Hashim Amla (SA)	380	53*
7.	Brian Lara (WI)	430	53
8.	Rahul Dravid (IND)	509	48
9.	Virat Kohli (IND)	339	47
10.	AB de Villiers (SA)	388	45

NOTE: *The list is updated as of Amla’s century against Bangladesh in the second Test.