Most ODI centuries for India: Virat Kohli closing in on Sachin Tendulkar’s record

The Indian cricket team won its first ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in 1983, inspiring millions in the country to take up the sport. Ever since, India has witnessed some brilliant cricketers, especially batters, at the international level.

Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, in particular, have etched their names in cricketing history with their consistent run-scoring in ODIs. Sachin Tendulkar, regarded as the God of Cricket, has scored the most ODI centuries for India. He has 49 tons to his name in the 50-over format.

The Master Blaster also leads the charts for most ODI centuries and most Test centuries in international cricket.

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli’s recent exploits have seen him inch closer to Tendulkar's century tally in ODIs. Rohit Sharma, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, the former BCCI president, also make the top 10.

Let us have a look at cricketers with the most ODI centuries for India.

Most ODI centuries for India

Sachin Tendulkar - 49 ODI centuries

Sachin Tendulkar dominated One Day Internationals during his 23-year playing career. Not only is he the leading century-maker, but the Little Master also tops the charts for most runs in ODI cricket.

It took Tendulkar five years to notch his first ODI ton, scored during the third match of the 1994 Singer World Series. Since then, there was no looking back. He averaged a ton every 9.44 matches in the format.

Australia and Sri Lanka were his favorite opposition in the format as he slammed nine and eight centuries, respectively, against the two. Meanwhile, one of his 49 hundreds was a double century, making him the first cricketer to achieve the feat in ODIs.

Over the years, Tendulkar has not only broken limited-overs records, but has also set the bar in the Test arena.

Virat Kohli - 46 ODI centuries

The former Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli is second on the list, six centuries behind Tendulkar. Known as ‘King Kohli’, he made his ODI debut in 2008 and has been breaking records with incredible consistency since.

He leads the charts of most ODI centuries against one team, slamming nine tons each against Sri Lanka and West Indies. In 2017 and 2018, Kohli was at his prolific best, smashing six centuries each year.

Kohli is the fastest player to breach the 12,000-run mark in the format, crossing the landmark in just 251 matches.

Meanwhile, Kohli’s latest ton in the format came against Sri Lanka on January 16 2023, at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram. 

Rohit Sharma - 30 ODI centuries

Rohit Sharma’s fortunes turned for the good since he began opening the batting in the ICC Champions Trophy 2013. Ever since, he has emerged as India’s most consistent ODI player.

The multiple Indian T20 League-winning-captain has 30 centuries to his name in ODIs, three of them being double-hundreds. He scored 28 of those tons as an opener for India.

Rohit’s top score of 264 against Sri Lanka is the highest individual score in One Day Internationals. He is also the only cricketer to register three 200-plus scores in the format.

The Mumbai batter’s latest century in this format was the 85-ball 101 against New Zealand in January 2023.

Photo credits: Alamy