It was on December 10, 2005 that India’s Sachin Tendulkar overtook countryman Sunil Gavaskar as the batsman with the most number of centuries in Test cricket.
It was inevitable for a few years that Tendulkar would eventually get the record and it finally came in the first innings of a Test against Sri Lanka at the Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi. The legendary Indian batsman would go on to score 109 as India won the match by 188 runs.
Eleven years later, Tendulkar still holds the record – having notched up 51 centuries in 200 Tests before retiring in 2013.
10th Dec 1988: Sachin Tendulkar made his first Class Debut!
— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) December 10, 2016
10th Dec 2005: Sachin surpass Gavaskar to record most centuries in Test history
South Africa’s Jacques Kallis with 45 Test centuries is second on the list and former Australian captain Ricky Ponting is the third batsman with 40+ hundreds in the longest format of the game.
Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara and India’s Rahul Dravid make up the top five with 38 and 36 Test centuries respectively.
From the current players, England’s Alastair Cook has 30 Test hundreds to his name and is in with a chance to break Tendulkar’s record, but it seems like a tall task at this moment.
Here, we look at the top five batsmen with most Test centuries.
| Rank | Player | Team | Matches | Runs | Centuries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sachin Tendulkar | India | 200 | 15921 | 51 |
| 2 | Jacques Kallis | South Africa | 166 | 13289 | 45 |
| 3 | Ricky Ponting | Australia | 168 | 13378 | 41 |
| 4 | Kumar Sangakkara | Sri Lanka | 134 | 12400 | 38 |
| 5 | Rahul Dravid | India | 164 | 13288 | 36 |
NOTE: Table last updated on December 10, 2016.
