Top 10 Cricketers With Most Man Of The Match Awards In ODIs

The first One-Day International (ODI) match was played on 5 January 1971 between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The format, clearly, has seen drastic changes since then to the day present, not least the number of overs to be played, the number of balls in an over, and a change in colour of the ball from red to white.

The introduction of the World Cup, first in 1975, and every four years since brings occasional relevance to the format, which sees itself sandwiched between the love of Test cricket and entertainment provided by T20 cricket for the fans. Nonetheless, to win a 50-over World Cup remains a dream for all cricketers; the legendary Sachin Tendulkar waited for 22 years for his dream to come true.

Today, we look at the list of players who have performed the best on a particular day most number of times in ODI cricket.

Top 10 Cricketers With Most Man Of The Match Awards In ODIs:

10. Brian Lara-30

Fondly known as ‘The Prince’, Brian Lara is arguably West Indies’ greatest ever batsman. The left-hander scored 22358 runs (10405 in ODIs and 11953 in Tests), all with utmost grace, in a career spanning 17 years.

In 299 ODI matches, Lara bagged 30 Man of the Match awards. He always went toe to toe with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting as the best batsman of their generation. He notched up 19 centuries in ODI cricket and 34 in Tests.

9. Kumar Sangakkara-31

Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara holds a plethora of records in ODI cricket – the most notable of which is that he is the all-time leading ODI run-scorer from his country with 13975 runs in 397 matches at 41.96; he recorded 25 centuries and a staggering 90 fifties for Sri Lanka in the 50-over international format.

The left-hander claimed 31 ODI Man of the Match performances – in 4040 matches for Sri Lanka, Asia XI, and ICC World XI. He also holds the record of most consecutive ODI hundreds – 4, which he claimed during the 2015 World Cup in Australia.

8. Sourav Ganguly-31

Former India captain and the current BCCI president, Sourav Ganguly received the 31 Man of the Match award in his 311-match ODI career from 1992 to 2007. Though the southpaw shifted his batting position throughout his career and played a versatile role, he mostly partnered Tendulkar at the top.

‘Dada’ amassed 11363 ODI runs at 41.02 and led India valiantly both home and away. Ganguly, in fact, also holds the joint record for most consecutive Man of the Match awards – 4 – with Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan.

7. Sir Viv Richards-31

Sir Viv Richards was an oddity during his times – his strike rate of 90.20 in ODIs, in the ’70s and ’80s, must have been looked in awe by other batters; so would have been the swagger with which he scored 6721 at 47.00 in 187 ODIs, in which he bagged 31 Man of the Match grants.

6. Shahid Afridi-32

One of the premier all-rounders in world cricket, Afridi won 32 Player of the Match awards in his 398-match ODI career, where he scored 8064 runs at a strike rate of 117.00 and took 395 wickets.

5. Ricky Ponting-32

In 375 ODIs, where he assembled 13704 runs, Ricky Ponting won 32 Man of the Match awards, including in the 2003 World Cup final against India. He is the third-highest ODI run-scorer following Sangakkara and Tendulkar.

One of the most successful captains, Ponting led Australia to the 2003 and 2007 50-over World Cups.

4. Jacques Kallis-32

Perhaps the greatest all-rounder to play the sport, former South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis has been named Man of the Match 32 times in ODI cricket. Kallis scored over 11,000 ODI runs and snapped 273 ODI wickets; he recorded more than 13,000 Test runs and took 292 Test wickets.

3. Virat Kohli-36

A modern-day legend, a batting great, Virat Kohli with still years left to conclude his career has received shouts of the GOAT ODI batsman. The master of run chases is chasing the Everest of Sachin Tendulkar’s records in the 50-over format. Although he is currently suffering a century, he is just 6 more three-figure scores away from touching Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI hundreds.

Kohli, in his 254 ODI career so far has aggregated 12169 runs at 59.07 and has been rewarded with the Man of the Match award 36 times. Kohli also has 9 Man of the Series awards in ODIs – the third most.

2. Sanath Jayasuriya-48

Sanath Jayasuriya, who played a crucial role in Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup triumph by batting with alacrity at the top, is his country’s second-leading ODI run-scorer with 13430 runs in 445 matches, in which he claimed 48 Man of the Match awards. The left-hander was one of the most destructive openers of his generation. He also won 11 ODI Man of the Series awards – the second most.

1. Sachin Tendulkar-62

There gulf between the first cricketer, with 62 Man of the Match awards, and the second cricketer on this list is a testament to Sachin Tendulkar’s career as a batsman where comparisons with other players fade away and he stands tall inevitably. There is Tendulkar; then there are other batters.

15 ODI Man of the Series awards; 18426 ODI runs in 463 games at 44.83; 49 tons – a total of 100 in international cricket; first batsman to hit a double hundred in ODI cricket; most international runs (ODI and Test individually too). The list of batting records to Tendulkar’s name is innumerable. Rightly known as the ‘God of Cricket’.

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(All Stats Updated Till 4th July, 2021)