A century is a prestigious landmark in any format of the game and very few have mastered the art of scoring consecutive centuries more often in their prime career.
In this article, we will look at five players who have scored the most back to back centuries in ODI’s
5. Kumar Sangakkara – 3
One of the rare cricketers who got better with age, Sangakkara was the heartbeat of the Sri Lankan team that reached consecutive World Cup finals. He first scored a brace of hundreds in 2003, with both of them coming in Sharjah. The first of those two centuries against Pakistan was also his debut hundred.
The second instance was in the 2008 Asia Cup against Pakistan and Bangladesh. There are many cricketers with three instances of back to back centuries but Sangakkara finds a place because of a special record he created in 2015. He scored four consecutive hundreds in the 2015 World Cup which was his last tournament before retirement.
4. Saeed Anwar – 4
A world class opener who duly deserves more recognition from modern day cricket fans, Anwar often carried Pakistan team’s batting on his shoulder. He first scored a hat-trick of centuries in the 1993 Champions trophy. He then scored back to back hundreds in the 1996 World Cup against New Zealand and Sri Lanka, remaining unbeaten in both the innings.
He repeated the feat in the next World Cup against Zimbabwe and New Zealand and played in an instrumental part in Pakistan’s run to the final. A year later, he once again showed his prowess in big games with hundreds in the quarter-final and semi-final of the 2000 ICC knockout tournament.
3. Rohit Sharma – 4
A true icon of the modern day game, Sharma first scored consecutive hundreds in the 2010 Triangular Series in Zimbabwe while batting in the number 4 position. After a six year hiatus, he scored consecutive centuries as an opener in the tri-series in Australia, the first of which was a monumental 171* in WACA, Perth.
In the next year, it was his favourite opponents Sri Lanka who were at the receiving end of the back to back centuries. A hat-trick of centuries were scored by Rohit Sharma in the 2019 World Cup in which he finished as the top scorer.
2. AB de Villiers – 6
A truly astonishing record for someone who always batted lower down the order, AB de Villiers scored a hat-trick of centuries in 2010 with the first two coming against India and the last one coming against West Indies.
Three years before that he notched up back to back centuries against Zimbabwe and West Indies. The last instance of him scoring consecutive centuries was against India in 2015 which included a memorable partnership with Du Plessis in Wankhede stadium.
1. Virat Kohli – 9
To the surprise of no one, Virat Kohli tops the list with one instance of hat-trick of centuries and eight instances of scoring back to back centuries. He scored three consecutive centuries against West Indies in a bilateral ODI series in 2018 and broke tons of records in the process. Kohli’s first back to back centuries came against Sri Lanka but in two different tournaments.
The first one was an unforgettable 133* in Bellerive Oval while the next one was in the Asia Cup. He scored another brace of centuries in the same year and with still a lot of time left in his career, he will extend his incredible record.
