One of the powerful cricket teams in the world is the Indian Cricket team. We have been at the top of the ICC cricket rankings for ODIs and T20IS with ratings of 124 and 271, respectively. But we haven’t always had a similar role to play in test cricket, as we are fourth in the ICC Test rankings.
India is now getting ready to take on England for the fourth test match of the series. Following the second test, tied at one all, the third was important for getting that lead to take away a little bit of the pressure. England finally won that match, with Ravindra Jadeja almost having the victory in his grip. The two remaining test matches are important for India to climb the Test rankings.
Top 5 Cricketers Who Scored the Most Hundreds Against India
Focusing on our topic about the Top 5 Cricketers Who Scored the Most Hundreds Against India. What makes it interesting is to look at the players who have scored numerous centuries against one of the strongest teams.
We will list the total centuries of the top five players, which will include the Test, ODI and T20I formats. I’ll spare you the trouble of looking for the T20I centuries against India from any of these players. I have researched, and there are none among the listed players.
| Rank | Player | Total 100 vs India | ODIs | Tests | T20I |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0 |
| 4 | Vivian Richards (West Indies) | 11 | 3 | 8 | 0 |
| 3 | Ricky Ponting (Australia) | 14 | 6 | 8 | 0 |
| 2 | Joe Root (England) | 14 | 3 | 11 | 0 |
| 1 | Steve Smith (Australia) | 16 | 5 | 11 | 0 |
5) Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) – 11
Kumar Sangakkara is one of the top three best wicket-keeper batsmen in cricket history. He is the fifth batsman to score the most centuries against India, with most of them coming from the ODI matches. His test centuries are a hundred short of the ODI, making a total of 11 centuries.
4) Vivian Richards (West Indies) – 11
Sir Vivian Richards is one of the greatest batsmen of the West Indies team and of the cricket world. He is known for his aggressive batting style while also being fearless. Against India, he has scored 8 Test centuries and 3 ODI centuries.
The reason he has no T20I centuries is that the format was introduced after his retirement. His total century count against India is 11, which is the same as Kumar Sangakkara’s. Regardless of that, he is ranked fourth because he scored the same number of centuries in 59 matches, whereas Sangakkara played 97 matches.
3) Ricky Ponting (Australia) – 14
Ricky Ponting is regarded as the greatest captain and batsman in the cricket world. Under his leadership, Australia won two Cricket World Cups in 2003 and 2007.
Also Read: Top 10 Indian Players who Hit the Most Sixes in Test History
Despite his great performance in all three formats, he hasn’t scored any T20I centuries against India. Ponting has a total of 14 centuries against India, which include his eight tests and six ODI hundreds. With this, you can also determine that he was more of a Test format player.
2) Joe Root (England) – 14
The current master of the test cricket format, Joe Root, is leading the Men’s Test batting rankings. His calm and elegant play under pressure is what makes him one of the best test cricketers. This in itself tells you that out of his 14 centuries, the maximum are from his test format (11), while the remaining three are from ODI.
Once again, we have a clash of centuries, Joe Root and Ricky Ponting. The reason is the same as the previous; Ricky Ponting’s centuries were made in 89 matches, whereas it took Joe Root 65 games.
1) Steve Smith (Australia) – 16
Steve Smith is a consistent run-scorer in the test format, with his exceptional and unique batting style. Apart from Sachin Tendulkar, he is one of the players who has been compared to Sir Donald Bradman. As per ratings,
Smith is the current best Australian batsman in the Test format with the highest number of centuries against India. It is obvious that 11 of his 16 centuries are from the test format, whereas the remaining five are from the ODI.