Check out the top six players with the most test matches played below. The top six players on this list are among the greatest ever to play test cricket.
This topic is about one of the most valuable things a cricketer can have in his life: playing the most number of Test matches for your country. Test cricket is the ultimate form of cricket, and every player who plays the game aspires to be a test cricketer. To be on this list of players who have played the most test matches in history means a lot to every player, regardless of the country he represents.
The Top 6 players on this list are among the greatest ever to play test cricket, and the fact that these men have played so many test matches, and that too for over a decade and a half, while remaining fit and motivated says a lot about all of these players, as do those who are not in the Top 6 but have played more than 100 test matches for their nations. So, here are the top six players who have played the most Test matches.
Sachin Tendulkar (200 Test Matches)
Sachin Tendulkar
This is absolutely mind-boggling that someone can not only play 100 test matches, which is a huge deal in itself, but then double the number and play 200 test matches, which equals 1000 days of test cricket for Sachin Tendulkar. He began his test career on November 15, 1989, and ended it on November 16, 2013. For the greatest of all time, a full 24-year cycle. And we’ve had the privilege of witnessing 11 years of his greatness live on television. We don’t believe anyone else can break this record because, in order to do what he did, they must first play test cricket for two decades and be physically fit during that time. In 200 test matches, he scored 15921 runs and had 51 Test hundreds. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar will be the only one.
James Anderson (170 Test Matches and counting)
James Anderson is the only one of the Top 6 who is still playing active test cricket and he looks fit as a fiddle and if anyone has a real shot at becoming the second ever player to play 200 Test matches it’s this fella but he needs to play for 4-5 years more and we don’t see that happening as he is already approaching 40 years old. With 640 test wickets and counting, he has become the most successful fast bowler in test cricket history. He is an all-time great, and everyone wishes him luck in his quest for 700 Test wickets.
Ricky Ponting (168 Test Matches)
The third player on this list is an Australian legend and one of the greatest batters in test cricket history. He was the captain who helped Australia become the ruthless force that it is today, but there was another player who was instrumental in shaping modern Australian cricket, and we will discuss him later, but Ricky Ponting was an absolute beast who loved scoring lots of runs and winning matches for Australia. He led Australia for more than a decade and won the most test matches as a captain. We enjoyed watching him play and hoped that one day India would play like this, and Virat Kohli made that dream a reality.
Steve Waugh (168 Test Matches)
It is such a coincidence that the two greatest captains in Australian cricket played the same number of test matches in their careers and were both equally responsible for the turnaround of Australia cricket from a side note in the West Indies dominance era to one where the other teams were catching up to them every time they played against them and only India were able to resist this onslaught from this duo and Steve Waugh. We didn’t get to see him in his prime, but hearing his thoughts on the game now makes me realise what a special player he was.
Jacques Kallis (166 Test Matches)
The fifth player on this list is someone we consider to be the greatest all-rounder of all time, and it is because of what he did not only in batting and bowling, but also in the fielding department of the game, that made him a true all-rounder who could do it all. He played 166 Test Matches for South Africa and was by far their best test cricketer. Jacques Kallis has over 13500 Test runs, 45 hundreds, and 292 Test wickets. We enjoyed watching him bat and bowl; he was a class act, and South African cricket misses him to this day.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul (164 Test Matches)
The sixth and final player of this list is Shivnarine Chanderpaul of West Indies. The cricketer who is known to possess the crabbiest technique in world cricket, played in test cricket from 1994-2015. It is said that Chanderpaul never seemed to play in the V or off the front foot, instead relying on soft hands, deft deflections, and a whiplash pull-shot to keep his Test average above 50. While the cricket world was fixated on Brian Lara’s undeniable talent, Chanderpaul demonstrated that there are other ways to be consistent and prolific in Test cricket over a long period of time, becoming only the second West Indian to reach 10,000 Test runs. He played 164 Tests for West Indies and scored a total of 11867 at an average of 51.37. His 164 tests includes 30 centuries and a highest score of 203*.
