Sachin Tendulkar has the most centuries in cricket at international level, with 100 across formats. The split is 51 in Tests and 49 in one-day internationals, and he reached the hundredth in March 2012 against Bangladesh in Dhaka.
No one else has passed 90. Virat Kohli is second on 86 and still playing one-day cricket for India, which makes him the only realistic challenger to a record that has stood since Tendulkar retired in 2013.
The 10 Players With the Most International Centuries
| # | Player | Country | Total | Tests | ODIs | T20Is |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sachin Tendulkar | India | 100 | 51 | 49 | 0 |
| 2 | Virat Kohli | India | 86 | 30 | 55 | 1 |
| 3 | Ricky Ponting | Australia | 71 | 41 | 30 | 0 |
| 4 | Kumar Sangakkara | Sri Lanka | 63 | 38 | 25 | 0 |
| 5 | Jacques Kallis | South Africa | 62 | 45 | 17 | 0 |
| 6 | Joe Root | England | 61 | 41 | 20 | 0 |
| 7 | Hashim Amla | South Africa | 55 | 28 | 27 | 0 |
| 8 | Mahela Jayawardene | Sri Lanka | 54 | 34 | 19 | 1 |
| 9 | Brian Lara | West Indies | 53 | 34 | 19 | 0 |
| 10 | Rohit Sharma | India | 52 | 12 | 35 | 5 |
Figures are current to 5 November 2026. Kohli, Root and Rohit Sharma are still adding to theirs.
Every Batter in the Top 10, in Order
1. Sachin Tendulkar: 100 Centuries
India · 100 centuries · 51 Tests, 49 ODIs · 1989 to 2013
Tendulkar is the only cricketer to reach three figures in international hundreds. He debuted at 16 and played 664 international matches across 24 years.
The hundredth took a year to arrive. He reached 99 in March 2011 and did not convert another until 16 March 2012, a drought that ran through 33 innings.
2. Virat Kohli: 86 Centuries
India · 86 centuries · 30 Tests, 55 ODIs, 1 T20I · 2008 to present
Kohli holds the one-day international record outright with 55 hundreds, six clear of Tendulkar. His most recent came on 27 September 2026, an unbeaten 139 against the West Indies at Thiruvananthapuram.
He is 14 short of the overall record and now plays only one-day cricket for India, so the arithmetic depends on how many more fifty-over matches he appears in.
3. Ricky Ponting: 71 Centuries
Australia · 71 centuries · 41 Tests, 30 ODIs · 1995 to 2012
Ponting captained Australia through the most dominant period any side has had, winning the 2003 and 2007 World Cups without losing a match in either tournament.
His 41 Test hundreds are the most by any Australian, ahead of Steve Smith on 37 and Steve Waugh on 32.
4. Kumar Sangakkara: 63 Centuries
Sri Lanka · 63 centuries · 38 Tests, 25 ODIs · 2000 to 2015
Sangakkara kept wicket for much of his career while batting at three, a combination that almost no one else has sustained at this level of output.
He scored four consecutive one-day hundreds at the 2015 World Cup, which no other batter has done at any tournament.
5. Jacques Kallis: 62 Centuries
South Africa · 62 centuries · 45 Tests, 17 ODIs · 1995 to 2014
Kallis took 292 Test wickets alongside his 45 Test hundreds, which is the strongest all-round record in the game’s history by a clear margin.
Only Tendulkar and Ponting have more Test centuries. No other player in the top ten here took more than 50 international wickets.
6. Joe Root: 61 Centuries
England · 61 centuries · 41 Tests, 20 ODIs · 2012 to present
Root is the highest-placed active player outside India and the only one of the three still playing Test cricket. He has 41 Test hundreds, England’s record by a distance.
He is one short of Kallis and two short of Sangakkara, so two more hundreds would move him to fourth on this list.
7. Hashim Amla: 55 Centuries
South Africa · 55 centuries · 28 Tests, 27 ODIs · 2004 to 2019
Amla is the only South African to score a Test triple century, 311 not out against England at The Oval in 2012.
He reached 27 one-day hundreds in 167 innings, the fastest anyone has got there, and his split between the two formats is the most even in the top ten.
8. Mahela Jayawardene: 54 Centuries
Sri Lanka · 54 centuries · 34 Tests, 19 ODIs, 1 T20I · 1997 to 2015
Jayawardene shared a stand of 624 with Sangakkara against South Africa in 2006, the highest partnership in first-class cricket.
He is one of only two players in this list with a Twenty20 international hundred, which he scored against Zimbabwe at the 2010 World Twenty20.
9. Brian Lara: 53 Centuries
West Indies · 53 centuries · 34 Tests, 19 ODIs · 1990 to 2007
Lara holds the highest individual Test score, 400 not out against England in Antigua in 2004, and the highest first-class score, 501 not out for Warwickshire in 1994.
He never played a Twenty20 international. The format did not exist for most of his career and he retired months before the first World Twenty20.
10. Rohit Sharma: 52 Centuries
India · 52 centuries · 12 Tests, 35 ODIs, 5 T20Is · 2007 to present
Rohit has three one-day double centuries, including 264 against Sri Lanka in 2014, which remains the highest individual score in the format.
He is one behind Lara and still playing one-day cricket, so ninth place is likely to change. He also shares the Twenty20 international record with five hundreds.
Most Centuries in Each Format
The overall list hides three separate records, and only one of them belongs to Tendulkar.
| Format | Leader | Centuries |
|---|---|---|
| Tests | Sachin Tendulkar, India | 51 |
| ODIs | Virat Kohli, India | 55 |
| T20Is | Rohit Sharma and Glenn Maxwell | 5 each |
| First-class | Jack Hobbs, England | 199 |
The Twenty20 record is small because the format gives a batter 20 overs at most and rewards a quick 60 more than a slow hundred. Five is the ceiling after nineteen years of international T20 cricket.
Jack Hobbs and the 199 First-Class Centuries
The largest century figure in cricket belongs to a player who retired in 1934. Jack Hobbs made 199 first-class hundreds for Surrey and England, a total no one has come within 30 of.
The number used to be 197. Two further hundreds he made in Colombo around Christmas 1930, on a tour by the Maharaj Kumar of Vizianagram’s XI, were given first-class status by the Association of Cricket Statisticians, and Wisden aligned with that in 2022.
Hobbs scored 98 of those hundreds after turning 40. He played first-class cricket until he was 51, in an era when county seasons ran to 30 or more matches and a batter could face far more innings in a summer than a modern international does in a year.
Patsy Hendren is second on 170 and Wally Hammond third on 167. Every player near the top of that list finished before 1960, which is why the first-class record sits apart from anything in the ICC Hall of Fame.
Who Can Still Catch Tendulkar
Three active players appear in the top ten, and only one is close enough for the question to be serious.
- Virat Kohli needs 15 to reach 100 and plays one format. At his one-day rate that is several more years of selection in a side rebuilding towards the next World Cup.
- Joe Root needs 40 and turns 36 in December. He is the most likely to pass Kallis and Sangakkara into fourth, not to approach the record.
- Rohit Sharma needs 49 at 39 years old, which is not a live possibility.
- Steve Smith is on 49 and plays Tests only. He is closer to the top ten than to the record.
Kane Williamson retired from international cricket on 12 June 2026 with 48, so New Zealand’s best chance has already passed. The record has survived thirteen years since Tendulkar’s last innings and the structure of the modern calendar works against it, with Twenty20 taking the place that fifty-over cricket once held.
Dominant batting records tend to outlive the conditions that produced them, the same pattern that keeps the oldest marks standing in the NBA championship record.
Why Three of the Top Ten Are Indian
India supplies Tendulkar, Kohli and Rohit Sharma, and no other country has more than two. Opportunity explains most of it.
- India plays more international cricket than anyone. A board schedules the fixtures its broadcast market will pay for, and India’s is by some distance the largest in the sport.
- More matches means more innings. Tendulkar played 664 internationals across 24 years. A player from a board with a thinner calendar would need a longer career for the same number of chances.
- Batting conditions help. Indian pitches are slow and low and reward batters who occupy the crease, which is the method that turns fifties into hundreds.
- Depth of population. The talent pool is drawn from a country near the top of the most populous countries in the world, and cricket is the sport that pool overwhelmingly chooses.
West Indies is the counterpoint. It produced Lara and nobody else near this list, despite dominating the game through the 1970s and 1980s and winning the first two World Cups.
Sri Lanka has two players in the top ten from a population of 22 million, the strongest return per head of any country here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who has the most centuries in cricket?
Sachin Tendulkar, with 100 international centuries: 51 in Tests and 49 in one-day internationals. He reached the hundredth in March 2012 against Bangladesh.
Who has the most Test centuries?
Sachin Tendulkar, with 51. Jacques Kallis is second on 45 and Ricky Ponting and Joe Root are joint third on 41.
Who has the most ODI centuries?
Virat Kohli, with 55 one-day international hundreds, ahead of Sachin Tendulkar on 49 and Rohit Sharma on 35.
Who has the most first-class centuries?
Jack Hobbs, with 199 for Surrey and England between 1905 and 1934. Patsy Hendren is second on 170 and Wally Hammond third on 167.
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