Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar had a dream year in 1998 in ODI cricket where he ruled the ODI format, across conditions and against all opponents he came again, in particular the great Australian team.
Who has hit the most ODI centuries in a single year?
The record for most ODI hundreds in a single year goes to Sachin Tendulkar, who raised 9 ODI tons in 1998. Tendulkar scored 1894 runs that year, which is also the record for most ODI runs by a batsman in a single year.
Sachin Tendulkar looked invincible in 1998. That too in a period where he batted as a lone warrior for the Indian team with the likes of Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, and VVS Laxman being new to international cricket.
Apart from the 9 centuries, Tendulkar also cracked 7 fifties. This is 16 fifty-plus scores in 33 innings.
Among those 9 centuries are included the two famous desert storm innings against Australia in Sharjah, which helped India finally defeat Australia in a final, and win the Coca-Cola Cup. 4 out of Tendulkar’s 9 centuries in 1998 came against Australia, further accentuating his status as one of the greatest batsmen of all-time. And to think Tendulkar was only 25 years of age in 1998.
Following Tendulkar with 7 ODI centuries each in a year are Sourav Ganguly (2000), David Warner (2016), and Rohit Sharma (2019).
In 2016, Warner scored 1388 runs at an average of 63 with 7 centuries and 4 fifties in only 23 innings. He also piled up over 700 runs in the IPL 2016, which was the peak year of Warner in white-ball cricket.
Rohit Sharma was the leading run-scorer in the 2019 World Cup. He cracked 5 centuries alone in the 2019 World Cup, but India lost to New Zealand in the semi-final match. Rohit overall notched up 7 centuries in ODIs in 2019. Ganguly raised 7 ODI tons in 1999, the year in which the left-hander amassed 1579 runs at an average of 56.
Talking about Virat Kohli – the most number of ODI centuries Kohli has hit in a year is 6. However, it is imperative to point out that Kohli has hit 6 centuries in a year in ODIs thrice – in 2017, 2018, and 2023.
Kohli, who often takes rest against much weaker opponents to manage his workload, has scored over 1000 ODI runs 8 times in a year in his career.