Despite its late initiation, ODIs have outnumbered Tests over the years, making it the format with most international matches. Bharath Seervi looks at the cricketers who have played with and against most often.
The teams in One Day International (ODI) format have had services of a pair or two in their most productive years. There have been great player pairs over the years. The Sri Lankan team, especially, have had a quite a good number of pairs both in batting and bowling in their short history.
Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda de Silva were followed by Sanath Jayasuriya and Muttiah Muralitharan and then by Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara. The Indian team has had its share of pairs too, in the form of Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and Anil Kumble. Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock from South Africa and Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist from Australia are some of the other pairs.
The pair which played the most number of ODIs together for a team is that of Jayawardene and Sangakkara. They both played in a record 341 ODIs together for Sri Lanka and still continue to play. Two other pairs played over 300 matches together for the same team: 307 (Jayasuriya and Muralitharan) and 304 (Jayasuriya and Chaminda Vaas). The table below provides the complete list.
Many of the pairs have been from the Asian teams. The pair with highest number of matches together for Australia is Ponting and Gilchrist (245 ODIs). For India it has been the pair of Dravid and Ganguly with 256 appearances together.
Stephen Fleming and Nathan Astle have played in 203 ODIs (the best for New Zealand); Inzamam-ul-Haq and Wasim Akram, in 216 ODIs (the best for Pakistan); Kallis and Pollock, 259 (the best for South Africa). On the other hand — only one pair (Desmond Haynes and Richie Richardson, 176 matches together) have appeared in more than 175 ODIs alongside each other. The Flower brothers — Andy and Grant — played together in 194 ODIs for Zimbabwe.
Pairs playing 175 or more ODIs together for the same team:
Matches
Player 1
Player 2
Team
341
Mahela Jayawardene
Kumar Sangakkara
Sri Lanka
307
Sanath Jayasuriya
Muttiah Muralitharan
Sri Lanka
304
Sanath Jayasuriya
Chaminda Vaas
Sri Lanka
273
Sanath Jayasuriya
Mahela Jayawardene
Sri Lanka
259
Jacques Kallis
Shaun Pollock
South Africa
256
Rahul Dravid
Sourav Ganguly
India
256
Jacques Kallis
Mark Boucher
South Africa
254
Mahela Jayawardene
Tillakaratne Dilshan
Sri Lanka
252
Muttiah Muralitharan
Chaminda Vaas
Sri Lanka
250
Kumar Sangakkara
Tillakaratne Dilshan
Sri Lanka
245
Sachin Tendulkar
Rahul Dravid
India
245
Sachin Tendulkar
Anil Kumble
India
245
Ricky Ponting
Adam Gilchrist
Australia
243
Sanath Jayasuriya
Marvan Atapattu
Sri Lanka
243
Mahela Jayawardene
Muttiah Muralitharan
Sri Lanka
243
Shaun Pollock
Mark Boucher
South Africa
241
Aravinda de Silva
Arjuna Ranatunga
Sri Lanka
238
Sachin Tendulkar
Sourav Ganguly
India
227
Mark Boucher
Herschelle Gibbs
South Africa
225
Sanath Jayasuriya
Kumar Sangakkara
Sri Lanka
224
Mahela Jayawardene
Chaminda Vaas
Sri Lanka
223
Sachin Tendulkar
Mohammad Azharuddin
India
219
Sanath Jayasuriya
Aravinda de Silva
Sri Lanka
218
Chaminda Vaas
Marvan Atapattu
Sri Lanka
216
Inzamam-ul-Haq
Wasim Akram
Pakistan
214
Steve Waugh
Mark Waugh
Australia
213
Muttiah Muralitharan
Marvan Atapattu
Sri Lanka
213
Mohammad Yousuf
Abdul Razzaq
Pakistan
209
Mahela Jayawardene
Marvan Atapattu
Sri Lanka
209
Jacques Kallis
Herschelle Gibbs
South Africa
208
Shaun Pollock
Herschelle Gibbs
South Africa
205
Kumar Sangakkara
Muttiah Muralitharan
Sri Lanka
204
Sachin Tendulkar
Javagal Srinath
India
203
Stephen Fleming
Nathan Astle
New Zealand
202
Aravinda de Silva
Roshan Mahanama
Sri Lanka
202
Arjuna Ranatunga
Roshan Mahanama
Sri Lanka
201
Wasim Akram
Saleem Malik
Pakistan
For Zimbabwe: Andy and Grant Flower — 194 ODIs
For West Indies: Haynes and Richardson — 176 ODIs
For England: Paul Collingwood and James Anderson — 125 ODIs
For Bangladesh: Mushfiqur Rahim and Tamim Iqbal — 114 ODIs
Let us list the players who played against each other most number of times in the ODIs. Even here the Asian players top the list. Tendulkar and Jayasuriya who top the list of players with most ODI appearances (463 and 445 respectively) have played against each other in a record 71 ODIs. Allan Border and Haynes come next with 60.
Below is the table listing the players who played against each other in 45 or more ODIs. There is a long list of Asian players especially from Sri Lanka and India. Jayawardene, Sangakkara, and Afridi are the others having their names often in the list.
Players playing against each other in 50 or more ODIs:
Matches
Player 1
Team 1
Player 2
Team 2
71
Sachin Tendulkar
India
Sanath Jayasuriya
Sri Lanka
60
Allan Border
Australia
Desmond Haynes
West Indies
58
Mahela Jayawardene
Sri Lanka
Shahid Afridi
Pakistan
57
Mahela Jayawardene
Sri Lanka
Virender Sehwag
India
57
Kumar Sangakkara
Sri Lanka
Virender Sehwag
India
56
Mahela Jayawardene
Sri Lanka
MS Dhoni
India
56
Desmond Haynes
West Indies
Javed Miandad
Pakistan
55
Sachin Tendulkar
India
Ricky Ponting
Australia
55
Sanath Jayasuriya
Sri Lanka
Inzamam-ul-Haq
Pakistan
55
Mahela Jayawardene
Sri Lanka
Yuvraj Singh
India
55
Kumar Sangakkara
Sri Lanka
MS Dhoni
India
54
Tillakaratne Dilshan
Sri Lanka
MS Dhoni
India
53
Inzamam-ul-Haq
Pakistan
Rahul Dravid
India
53
Richie Richardson
West Indies
Rameez Raza
Pakistan
52
Sachin Tendulkar
India
Inzamam-ul-Haq
Pakistan
52
Mohammad Azharuddin
India
Arjuna Ranatunga
Sri Lanka
52
Aravinda de Silva
Sri Lanka
Saleem Malik
Pakistan
51
Mohammad Azharuddin
India
Aravinda de Silva
Sri Lanka
51
Javed Miandad
Pakistan
Richie Richardson
West Indies
50
Kumar Sangakkara
Sri Lanka
Yuvraj Singh
India
50
Wasim Akram
Pakistan
Aravinda de Silva
Sri Lanka
50
Allan Border
Australia
Viv Richards
West Indies
(Bharath Seervi is a cricket statistician who is obsessed with digging numbers, facts and records related to the game. An active member of Society of Cricket Statisticians of India, he blogs at www.cricketseervistats.blogspot.com. He can be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SeerviBharath and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SeerviCricket)
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