Sachin Tendulkar has scored more runs than anyone in tests and in ODIs. Muralitharan has taken more wickets than anyone in tests and ODIs. Sir Donald Bradman has the highest ever average in test cricket.

Those records will go down in history as the top records in international cricket. It is also highly likely that those records will never be broken.

It is worthwhile, however, to see how all these records stack up in this century.

Do you know who is the highest run scorer in tests in this century? Who is the highest run scored in ODIs in this century? Who is the highest wicket taker?

Lets take a look.

These records are for all tests and ODIs played since 1st January 2000.

Leading Test Batsmen in this Century


Kumar Sangakkara sits firmly on top of this list. With everyone else among the top 10 leading run scorers in this century retired from test cricket, or nearing retirement, it will take some time before someone surpasses Sangakkara's run tally.

His compatriot, Mahela Jayawardene will play only two more tests, while Sehwag's test career seems well behind him. Chanderpaul is unlikely to overtake Sangakkara over the next year or two that he has left in him.

Even in terms of averages, Sangakkara is right up there with only Kallis slightly above him.

Sachin Tendulkar, the all time leading run scorer in test cricket, has the lowest average among the 10 leading test averages of this century.

What is interesting to note is that Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam Ul Haq, who were the two mainstays of Pakistan's middle order during the first decade of this century, have test averages that are among the top 5 of this century.

Leading ODI Batsmen in this Century

Just like Sachin Tendulkar leads the all time runs tally for tests and ODIs, Kumar Sangakkara is the leading run scorer in both tests and ODIs in this century.

In ODIs, King Sanga is well ahead of his peers with a 2,000 runs difference between him and the next best, which belongs to his team mate, Mahela Jayawardene.

Sangakkara is undoubtedly the best batsman to play the game in this century. He is well ahead of the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, and Brian Lara.

In terms of averages, however, the Indian Captain and Vice Captain, have shown that they are in a league of their own in ODIs, with both averaging well above 50.

AB de Villiers is also right up there with them with an ODI average just very slightly below 50.

These three are undoubtedly the best ODI players in the game today, if not ever.

It is no surprise that all time greats like Sachin Tendulkar and Jacques Kallis appear everywhere among the leading run scorers and among the leading averages in tests and ODIs, but it is interesting to note how their performances compare to their peers in this century.

Leading Test Bowlers in this Century

Muttiah Muralitharan, who is the all time leading wicket taker in test cricket, is also the leading wicket taker in this century, with a vast majority if his 800 test wickets coming in this century. He is well ahead of his peers 181 more test wickets than the next best tally.

His record in this century could well remain the record even by the end of the century, considering that only two bowlers have taken more wickets in their entire careers than Murali's 573 wickets in this century.

Even in terms of bowling averages, Muralitharan's record is impeccable, with only Glen McGrath slightly ahead of him.

It is interesting to note that Shoaib Akhtar is the only bowler with a strike rate of less than 40 in this century. Dale Steyn has a similar strike rate, but no one else comes even close to these two fast bowlers.

Leading ODI Bowlers in this Century

Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis have a combined number of 787 wickets in test matches. That number is even higher at 918 in ODIs, giving them a collective amount of 1,705 wickets.

Instead of taking a look at the collective number of wickets of bowling pairs, I decided to take into account the combined wickets taken by bowlers in matches that they both played in.

I restricted this to test matches only.

I also excluded spinners for the initial analysis since I wanted to compare fast bowling pairs to the 2 Ws.

Plus, as always in my statistical posts, I restricted this to the last 20 years for thats as far back as my first hand knowledge of cricket goes.

This is what I found:

I like Abdul Razzaq. I think he's an impact player - one THUMPING all rounder who's given us some fond memories. So i think its great he's taken back his retirement decision even though it makes his initial decision seem like a petulant act of a jilted player.


But let's be honest - Razzaq is and has been taken for granted for a long time. He's one of those unassuming characters who quietly goes about his business turning in solid, consistent performances, and occasionally devastating match winning ones, without too many people seeming to notice. When Razzaq truly burst onto the scene in the '99 world cup, he bowled with brisk pace and plenty of enthusiasm. He bounded in with purpose and had Sachin as his bunny for a while. He was used to counter the early swing and seam on offer during that tournament and displayed terrific temperament on more than one occasion to pull Pakistan of many a potential dark hole. But it was only later on, when he found his niche lower down the order, that his batting truly exploded. With that distinctive clearance of the left leg and blinding bat speed, he thumped them back harder than they could throw them at him. Anything even slightly fuller went high and handsome over long on or long off. Anything shorter was savaged over midwicket. Remember the 90 off 40 balls he blasted to almost take Pakistan to an improbable victory over New Zealand? Or the 5 consecutive fours against an in-prime Mcgrath? His batting was a thrill to watch - hope was never lost as long as 'fauji' was still in. His batting wasn't to bad in tests either and he chose pakistan's arch rivals to play some of his most important knocks. His 45 and 90 against india in that famous Karachi test, a match in which he also took 7 wickets, were drowned out by Akmal's hundred and Asif's majestic bowling display. Once again, a classic case of Razzaq not being given his due.


This is not to say the player bears no blame himself. His biggest critics have pointed at his bowling time and again and i completely agree. What happened to Razzaq the bowler? The guy could swing the ball, both with new and old, and genuinely harried batsmen. He was a real first change threat, stemming the runs by taking wickets. No longer. A mysterious shoulder injury robbed him of his pace and now his first ball is always a wide-of-the-off-stump half tracker at about 110kph which gets smashed for four. The rest of his spell is pretty much a succession of dibbly dobblers which he may as well have not bothered with. No longer does he get that threatening reverse swing and seems to be merely going through the motions. Another criticism has been his lack of emotion and energy on the field. Once again, not entirely unfounded.


Should Razzaq be brought back into atleast the ODI team? Yes. I have a sneaking suspicion that his fellow fast bowler, Geoff Lawson, might be able to get some of his bowling magic back. Will he be a disruptive influence? Only time will tell. But he is 27 years old. His prime years are in front of him. Dodgy haircuts notwithstanding, he deserves to be given a run again and represent his country. If the idea was to give him a wake up call by dropping him, job done. Lets get him back in the set-up. Boom boom may take all the headlines and win the fans' hearts, but there is no better, and consistent, lower order biffer than Razzaq in the game today.

Australia are set to play their 1st test match after the retirement of Glen Mcgrath, Shane Warne, and Justin Langer, against the touring Sri Lankans in about a week from now.

The Aussies announced a 13 man squad earlier today, ending months of speculation on who would partner Hayden at the top. Phil Jacques has tipped Chris Rogers, Brad Hodge, and Shane Watson to the position, and I think its well deserved. Jacques got a couple of 100s against Pakistan A over the summer and also a big 100 in one of the recent state games.

The question of who would be Australia's 1st choice spinner still remains though with McGill and Hogg both in the squad. Both are quality spinners and I think it will be really harsh on McGill if he doesn't play. He's waited all his life for Warne to retire and now when he has, Hogg ends up in good bowling form. By now McGill could have played over a 100 tests, and gotten over 500 wickets if he wasn't Australian.

The replacement of Glen McGrath is also not confirmed with either of Johnson or Tait to play the role with Lee and Clarke up front. I think the Aussie bowling looks a lot weaker without McGrath and Warne.

I'm tipping the Lankans to win their first ever test match on Aussie soil this time round. Any bets?