The top four Associate members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and international cricket teams play one-day international (ODI) matches. One Day International (ODI) matches, in contrast to Test matches, only last one inning per team and have a cap of 50 overs per inning (although in the past, it was 55 or 60 overs). Since ODI matches are a subset of List A cricket, both List A and ODI records and statistics are maintained.
There have been more than 4,000 ODIs played by 28 sides since the first game designated as an ODI between England and Australia in January 1971. Matches have been more frequent throughout time, in part because to due to the rise in the number of ODI-playing nations, as well as in part because those countries’ cricket boards, which have been doing so since the Packer Revolution, are trying to maximize their revenue from the sport’s rising popularity. India played its 1,000th ODI match in February 2022, becoming the first team to do so. The match was part of a home series against the West Indies.
Most Player-of-the-series awards
| No. of Awards | Player | Team | Matches | Series | Period |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | Sachin Tendulkar | India | 463 | 108 | 1989–2012 |
| 11 | Sanath Jayasuriya | Sri Lanka | 445 | 111 | 1989–2011 |
| 9 | Virat Kohli‡ | India | 260 | 63 | 2008–present |
| Shaun Pollock | South Africa | 303 | 60 | 1996–2008 | |
| 8 | Chris Gayle | West Indies | 301 | 71 | 1999–2019 |
In international cricket, most Player-of-the-Series honors have been given to the following players:
Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin has won this title 20 times in his career, during which he has played in an incredible 183 series. And not a single one of those prizes were given out in the game’s shortest format. He was, without a doubt, among the best cricketers to ever play the game, and devoted followers continue to refer to him as the God of cricket. The 2003 World Cup, one of his 15 ODI series, saw him accumulate 673 runs, the most runs of any player in a single World Cup. The most runs ever scored in an international cricket match was 34,357 by Sachin.
Virat Kohli
One of the best multi-format players of all time, Virat Kohli, stands a very good chance of topping this list before his professional career comes to an end. In the two T20 World Cups that followed, in 2014 and 2016, Kohli was named Player of the Series. He is the only player to have amassed more than 20,000 runs in international play with an average significantly higher than 50. With 138 series played to date, Kohli has had this accolade given to him an average of every 7.26 series, which is the best frequency of any player who has gotten it more than five times. Given that Kohli is one of the most selfless athletes in the world and constantly aspires to
Sanath Jayasuriya
The only player other than Sachin to have won this honor more than ten times in ODIs to this point is the attacking Sri Lankan opener. He participated in 176 games, and from the very first ball he faced, he tried to set the tone for his side. Jayasuriya, who was best renowned for his devastating batting, was also a capable spinner who occasionally contributed significant breakthroughs, particularly in the first half of his lengthy career. Jayasuriya led Sri Lanka with more than 20,000 runs scored and more than 400 wickets taken.
Shaun Pollock
Shaun Pollock should have become an international cricket player, and a very good one at that, given the types of traits that were present in his gene pool. Dad Uncle Graeme was one of the best, if not the best, left-handed players to ever play the game, and Peter led the South African attack throughout the 1960s. Shaun possesses elements of both, but he has made a name for himself as a seamer with flawless, Hadlee-esque line and length. But at the beginning of his first-class career, he was aggressive and slippery, and his Natal teammates enjoyed counting the number of batsmen he pinned in each game. Against Michael Atherton’s opposition, he was added to the South African Test team. Although his father served as the selectors’ convener for the 1995–1996 England trip, there was never even a whiff of nepotism, and the younger Pollock soon ascended to the higher level.
A powerful Jamaican left-hander, Gayle received a black mark during his first senior tour to England in 2000 because the new guys were deemed to be lacking in respect for their seniors. But since then, Gayle has benefited from having little regard for the opposition’s bowlers. He is tall and menacing at the wicket, loves to slice over the covers off either foot and can obliterate the statistics of even the most frugal opening bowlers. Gayle is the batsman who has flourished more than any other in this age of Twenty20 cricket.
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