Top 10 Current Batsmen With Most Centuries In Test Cricket
Published - 20 Feb 2020, 09:02 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:04 AM
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As the game of cricket evolves, batsmen all across the globe are scoring more and more runs. A few years ago, everyone thought that Test cricket would lose its place on the global stage.
But, certain changes brought in by the authorities and the players themselves have brought back new life to Test cricket. Especially with the introduction of the ICC World Test Championship, Test cricket has become all the more competitive and is exciting the fans of the sport throughout the globe.
Questions have been raised by certain players and fans on the points distribution system in the championship but one thing that has happened for sure is that it has revived Test cricket.
Such competitiveness compels players to bring out the best in them. This has led to a lot of players rising through ranks in international cricket.
One such factor of determining a batsman’s parameter of success is determining the number of centuries he has hit.
Let’s take a look at the top 10 active batsmen with most international Test centuries in world cricket.
Top 10 Current Batsmen With Most Centuries In Test Cricket
10. Dean Elgar:
Dean Elgar is the only South African player to make it into the list with 12 Test tons to date in international cricket.
South African cricket has seen a major downfall in recent years but Elgar remains to be their Test team’s backbone of the batting line up.
Elgar has scored close to 4000 runs in Test cricket and his highest score is of 199 runs. He seems to have been very unfortunate to miss out on a double-hundred by just one run.
Elgar plays with an average close to 40 in Test cricket and has amassed 14 Test half-centuries in the longest format of the game.
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9. Asad Shafiq:
Asad Shafiq is another Pakistani on the list. One of the most less talked about batsmen in world cricket, Shafiq seems to do his job quietly for the sub-continent nation.
Shafiq has a total of 12 Test international century and sits on the ninth position in the list of the most test hundreds by active international players.
Shafiq has scored more than 4500 runs for Pakistan in Test cricket with an average of nearly 40. His highest score in Test cricket is 137.
Shafiq is one of Pakistan’s key Test player and although Pakistan might not have a lot of international cricket in recent years, Shafiq is one of the team’s star-studded players.
8. Azhar Ali:
Pakistan’s Test captain Azhar Ali is on the 8th spot. He has scored a total of 16 Test centuries till date.
Having made his Test debut in 2010, Azhar Ali has scored close to 6000 runs for Pakistan in Test cricket.
He is one among very few Pakistani batsmen to have scored a triple century in Test cricket. His best figure in Test cricket is that of 302 not out.
Azhar Ali has a total of 21 half-centuries to his name in Test cricket added to an impressive average of 42.58 in the longest format of the game.
7. Joe Root:
The English wizard, Joe Root sits at the seventh position in terms of most Test international centuries by active players.
Having scored more than 7500 runs in the format, Root is among one of the great Test players of England.
He has a total of 17 Test centuries to his name and his highest individual score in the format is of 254 runs.
Root has also scored 48 half-centuries in Test cricket and his boundary tally includes 856 fours and 21 sixes in Test cricket.
6. Cheteshwar Pujara:
Having restricted himself to only the longest format of the game, Cheteshwar Pujara is a Test specialist.
He is widely considered to be the new wall of team India in recent times. Cheteshwar is one of the classiest batsmen ever to grace the field of cricket.
Pujara has a total of 18 Test centuries to his name and has improvized over time. It takes a special ability to maintain the consistency at international level playing only a single format of the game and Pujara has proved to be its maestro.
Having an average close to 50 in international cricket is something great players dream of and Pujara has defied all the odds to deserve a permanent seat in the Indian Test side.
5. Ross Taylor:
Ross Taylor is the other Kiwi in the list just behind his captain Williamson. Taylor is one of New Zealand’s best batsmen the country has ever produced.
The veteran right-handed batsman has scored a total of 19 Test centuries. He just doesn’t seem to stop at the moment and won the Man of the Series award in the recently concluded India-new Zealand ODI series.
After the series, the 35-year-old batsman said that he is eyeing a spot in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup. This just goes on to show the fighting spirit of the legend.
Taylor has amassed more than 11000 runs in Test cricket and just seems to get better with age like fine wine. He will once again be crucial for the Kiwis in the upcoming Test series against India.
4. Kane Williamson:
One of the humblest men in the sport of cricket, Kane Williamson sits fourth on the list with 21 Test international centuries to his name.
Williamson has not had a good year as the captain of the Kiwis recently. The BlackCaps lost their second consecutive World Cup final last year that too by the virtue of a super over.
Since the past one year, New Zealand have lost four super overs under Williamson’s captaincy. But that doesn’t deviate away from the fact that Williamson is surely one of the greats of modern-day cricket.
Apart from 21 Test centuries, Williamson has 31 half-centuries to his name in the format. The upcoming series against India will prove to be one of the most important for him and the team.
3. David Warner:
David Warner is another classic destructive Australian opener who is almost impossible to dismiss on his good days.
Warner has established himself as a global force and has dominated the opposition everywhere in the world.
He is third on the list with 24 Test international centuries and is the backbone of the Australian National Cricket Team.
Having amassed more than 7000 runs in the format, David Warner is on the road to establish himself as one of the legends of the sport,
2. Steven Smith:
Another important figure in the fab four of the world currently, Steven Smith is one of world cricket’s legendary batsmen at the moment.
Though his career has been marred by the ball-tampering incident, Smith has made a solid return to world cricket and has shown the world as to why he deserves to be among one of the world’s best.
Smith is just one short of Virat Kohli in the list with 26 centuries in Test cricket at the moment. The unorthodox right-handed batsman has scored more than 7200 runs in the toughest format of the sport which goes on to show the legendary status he possesses.
He has a staggering average of 62.84 in Tests and scored close to 800 fours in the format that portrays the amount of confidence with which he plays.
1. Virat Kohli:
There should be no doubt over who should gain the top spot in the list. Kohli is easily the best batsman in world cricket at the moment and his records just add to the fact.
Virat Kohli has scored a total of 27 centuries in Test cricket at the moment. Although he might still be far behind Sachin Tendulkar on the top spot but nothing is impossible for Captain Kohli at the moment.
He seems to score centuries for fun in international cricket and seems the only player in world cricket to break Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 100 international centuries. Kohli is one of the prime reasons that India has been the best Test team in world cricket for a long time now.
The upcoming series against New Zealand will be another key series in India’s road to win the ICC World Test Championship and Virat Kohli’s tally might just go on to improve from here on.
(All Stats Updated Till 20th February, 2020)
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Priyam Singh is the Head of Content and Operations at Cricketaddictor. He Has Been Associated With C... Read more
