Sachin Tendulkar in 1998 had a dream year in cricket. Sachin scored 12 centuries in all formats combined, which is the record for Most Centuries in a Calendar Year in Cricket in all formats.
Ricky Ponting in 2003 & Virat Kohli in 2017 & 2018 came so near, by scoring 11 centuries in the respective years.
Interestingly, Sachin’s 9 centuries in ODI in 1998 is also the record for the most 100s in ODI in a single year – One of the records in Sachin’s huge pile of cricketing records!
In Test cricket, Pakistan’s Mohammad Yousuf had a wonderful year in 2006 breaking all the calendar year records in Test cricket. In that year, Yousuf scored 1788, which is the maximum run scored by a batsman in Test cricket in a calendar year ever.
His run tally of 1788 included 9 centuries, which is the record for most centuries in a calendar year in Test cricket.
Let us look at these records in detail.
Most Centuries in a Calendar Year in all formats
| BATSMAN | 100s | YEAR | RUNS | AVERAGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S Tendulkar (IND) | 12 | 1998 | 2541 | 68.67 |
| R Ponting (AUS) | 11 | 2003 | 2657 | 66.42 |
| V Kohli (IND) | 11 | 2017 | 2818 | 68.73 |
| V Kohli (IND) | 11 | 2018 | 2700 | 71.24 |
| A De Silva (SL) | 10 | 1997 | 2432 | 62.35 |
| R Dravid (IND) | 10 | 1999 | 2626 | 46.89 |
| T Dilshan (SL) | 10 | 2009 | 2568 | 55.82 |
| H Amla (SA) | 10 | 2010 | 2307 | 76.90 |
| R Sharma (IND) | 10 | 2019 | 2442 | 53.80 |
As mentioned earlier, Sachin’s superlative 1998 effort tops this chart.
Virat scored 8 centuries in 2012 & 2014, which is followed by 7 100s in 2016 & impressive 11 centuries in 2017.
Virat Kohli, in 2018, once again scored 11 hundreds overall. He has been a regular one in the last few years to knock this door and he had the best chance in 2018, but couldn’t.
Let’s look into the batsmen with 10 or more centuries in a calendar year in all formats combined.
Most Test Centuries in a Calendar Year
| BATSMAN | 100S | YEAR | RUNS | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M Yousuf (PAK) | 9 | 2006 | 1788 | 99.33 |
| R Ponting (AUS) | 7 | 2006 | 1333 | 88.86 |
| V Richards (WI) | 7 | 1976 | 1710 | 90.00 |
| A de Silva (SL) | 7 | 1997 | 1220 | 76.25 |
| S Tendulkar (IND) | 7 | 2010 | 1562 | 78.10 |
The year 1788 & also the record for the most centuries in a calendar year in Tests – 9. His average that year was an impressive 99.33!
Ricky Ponting on that same year had hit 7 Test centuries (Some year that had been for Test Cricket). It included 3 double centuries too, which is the 2nd Most 200s count in a single year.
And way back in 1976, Vivian Richards had hit 7 Test centuries too.
Two other legendary players, Aravinda De Silva during his prime time in 1997 & Sachin Tendulkar in 2010, also scored 7 Test centuries.
Notably, Don Bran had hit 5 100+ Test runs in 1948. Bran’s insane Test cricket records include 29 Test 100s & 12 double hundreds.
Here is a list of Players with 7 or more Test centuries in a calendar Year.
Most ODI Centuries in a Calendar Year
| BATSMAN | 100S | YEAR | RUNS | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S Tendulkar (IND) | 9 | 1998 | 1894 | 65.31 |
| S Ganguly (IND) | 7 | 2000 | 1579 | 56.39 |
| D Warner (AUS) | 7 | 2016 | 1388 | 63.09 |
| R Sharma (IND) | 7 | 2019 | 1490 | 57.30 |
| G Kirsten (SA) | 6 | 1996 | 1442 | 57.68 |
| S Tendulkar (IND) | 6 | 1996 | 1611 | 53.70 |
| R Dravid (IND) | 6 | 1999 | 1761 | 46.34 |
| V Kohli (IND) | 6 | 2017 | 1460 | 76.84 |
| R Sharma (IND) | 6 | 2017 | 1293 | 71.83 |
| V Kohli (IND) | 6 | 2018 | 1202 | 133.55 |
1998 has been arguably the best year for Sachin Tendulkar’s career. He added 1894 runs in that year in ODI, which is the most runs by a batsman in that format in a single year.
It included 9 ODI hundreds, which tops the list for most 100s in ODI in a year.
Sachin’s successful opening partner Sourav Ganguly, in 2000, has hit 7 centuries in ODI to his name and shares the 2nd spot with David Warner, who also scored 7 ODI 100s in 2016.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma shared the tag “most ODI hundreds in 2017”. They went onto score 6 ODI centuries each in 2017.
