White-ball cricket has become more of a batsman’s game in the last few years owing to changes in rules pertaining to field placements and the use of bouncers. But that doesn’t take away the hard work and determination shown by the batsmen in the nets and on the field. Scoring a single century calls for extreme concentration, grit, patience and impeccability in the skillsets one possesses. The batsman needs to choose their balls and the bowlers to be hit rather than just swinging the willow to connect a few biggies.
The game of cricket has seen several eminent batsmen, who possessed the art of converting pretty 40s and 50s into daddy hundreds. Some of them have even done it on a consistent basis year after year and their bat seems never tired of talking. They rightly feature at the top of numerous batting charts and youngsters look up to them for building a successful cricketing career. Here are the 5 top batsmen with most consecutive years containing atleast one ODI century:
Sachin Tendulkar
The ‘God of cricket’ is at the helm of this batting record with 49 centuries starting from 1994 to 2012. That is almost 2 decades and the hunger never seems to die for any. Tendulkar featured in 463 ODIs and accumulated 18426 runs at a strike-rate of 86.24.
Throughout his career, Tendulkar faced multiple bowlers possessing unique ability and temperament and some were even called batsmen’s worst nightmare. The little master didn’t get bogged down by any and trusted his batsmanship to get the better of the bowlers.
Whatever aggression Tendulkar showed, it was only restricted to his batting and never got over his gentle demeanor. That’s the reason opposition bowlers still have fond memories of the batsman and always take his name with utmost respect and honour. They rightly say that there is only one Sachin Tendulkar and even his shadow can’t get closer to the man he is!
Youngsters, not just in India but around the world, dream of batting and dominating the bowlers like Tendulkar, who lived a big chunk of his life between the 22 yards and still continues to contribute to the game which made him the man we all know!
Nathan Astle
This right-hander opening batsman from New Zealand sits at the second spot with 16 centuries spanning the years from 1995 to 2006. Astle amassed 7090 runs from 223 ODI fixtures at a strike-rate of 72.64.
He predominantly belonged to the Cairns era, where the batsman was a mainstay at the top of the order. Astle was involved in numerous partnerships with southpaw Fleming, who tormented the bowlers with their quality stroke play and the ability to find the narrowest of gaps.
Astle has also scored over 4000 runs in test cricket with a career-best of 222. It will be safe to say that he was an accumulator, who loved scoring hefty runs in the team’s cause. There was no room to bowl overpitched or short and wide deliveries as the batsman was too strong to pounce on anything that was on offer.
Apart from his batting, his effective right-arm medium-pace bowling came of great help to the Kiwis. The stalwart scalped 99 wickets from 223 ODIs at an economy rate of 4.71. He bowled wicket to wicket and often did the job of holding one end up.
The Blackcaps surely need his presence either as a coach or mentor, who can guide these budding, talented bunch of youngsters who crave for nothing but success for themselves and the country.
Virat Kohli
The current best batsman across all formats, Kohli brought an end to this wonderful century scoring streak in 2019. The genius crossed the century mark 43 times from years 2009 to 2019.
Owing to the pandemic-induced break, the cricket calendar had come to a standstill and India played only their third series of the year against the Australians. Kohli, unfortunately, could not get past the century mark in the home series against Australia and an away series against New Zealand early this year.
Thus, a curtailed cricketing itinerary combined with a slight dip in form resulted in Kohli not scoring a century in 2020 which in itself has been an annoying and the weirdest year in the long human history.
Inspite of this, Kohli’s ODI record is awe-inspiring and one to be proud of. The batsman has galored 12040 runs from 251 ODIs at a remarkable strike rate of 93.25.
His brilliance, unfortunately, could not prevent a series defeat against Australia, but with T20 WC up for grabs next year, Kohli can be expected to come out all guns blazing in 2021 starting another century scoring streak and helping India lift the trophy which has eluded them in the past few years.
Herschelle Gibbs
The South African middle order batsman stands fourth in this list with 21 centuries from 1999 to 2009. Gibbs has contributed 8094 runs from 248 games at a strike rate of 83.26.
His best score of 175 against Australia at Johannesburg in 2006 which helped South Africa become the first team to chase such a huge total in excess of 400, is still fresh in the minds of cricket lovers and they can never forget such a carnage inflicted against a strong Aussie attack.
His quick-reflexes at the backward point are well documented and were indeed the reason for many downfalls. The land of South Africa keeps producing such gun-fielders, who are ready to throw their bodies and stop whatever comes their way. Rhodes, de Villers, Peterson, Miller are some of these names, who have earned the reputation and fame as electric wires operating in the field.
It was South Africa’s greatest privilege and honour to witness the presence of a man, who was the most selfless cricketer going around and toiled hard for the ultimate progress of the nation, rubbing the disgraceful tag of the ‘chokers’!
AB de Villiers
Mr. 360 or the modern-day genius, ABD is a no-surprise to feature in this list of some prolific centurians. The South African great was a part of this streak from years 2009 to 2017, who has 25 centuries to his name in the 50-over format.
ABD has chronicled 9577 runs from 228 ODIs at an unbelievable strike rate of 101.1. Nothing of this stat is astonishing or shocking as the man does it day in and out without much delay. Once he gets his eye in, it is just one-way traffic as the ball sails over to various sides of the ground.
In recent times, we have seen wrist-spinners having a wood over the maestro and just keeping him down for a few overs till they operate. While it may be a moral victory for the tweakers, they cannot afford to linger over that aspect as the wily batsman might have already started working out his way to tackle and counterattack the wristies.
Though the talks of his international return do the rounds every now and then, for the moment he is retired and is enjoying his time plying his trade for various T20 franchises around the world. His biggest dream of winning the WC for South Africa might not have materialized in his presence, but the passion and dedication for the sport remains the same as he sails in the same boat as his RCB team-mate Kohli in quest of their maiden IPL title, which seems so near yet so far!
