Sachin Tendulkar holds 76 Player of the Match awards across international cricket, a number no active or retired cricketer has managed to reach. The gap between him and the second name on this list, Virat Kohli, at 71, has narrowed over the past two years but still stands firm.
What makes this record striking is not just the volume but the spread. Some players dominated in ODIs, others peaked in Tests, and a few built their tally almost entirely from the white-ball game. This list covers the 10 cricketers who collected the most match awards across all three formats combined.
Top 10 Players With Most Player of the Match Awards
Ten names, hundreds of match-winning performances across Tests, ODIs, and T20Is.
| Rank | Player | Country | Span | Matches | Total Awards | Tests | ODIs | T20Is |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SR Tendulkar | India | 1989-2013 | 664 | 76 | 14 | 62 | 0 |
| 2 | V Kohli | India | 2008-2026 | 559 | 71 | 10 | 45 | 16 |
| 3 | ST Jayasuriya | Sri Lanka | 1989-2011 | 586 | 58 | 4 | 48 | 6 |
| 4 | JH Kallis | South Africa | 1995-2014 | 519 | 57 | 23 | 32 | 2 |
| 5 | KC Sangakkara | Sri Lanka | 2000-2015 | 594 | 50 | 16 | 31 | 3 |
| 6 | RT Ponting | Australia | 1995-2012 | 560 | 49 | 16 | 32 | 1 |
| 7 | Shakib Al Hasan | Bangladesh | 2006-2024 | 447 | 45 | 6 | 27 | 12 |
| 8 | RG Sharma | India | 2007-2026 | 508 | 45 | 4 | 27 | 14 |
| 9 | Shahid Afridi | Pakistan | 1996-2018 | 524 | 43 | 0 | 32 | 11 |
| 10 | BC Lara | West Indies | 1990-2007 | 430 | 42 | 12 | 30 | 0 |
How the Awards Split Across Formats
The numbers shift when you separate the awards by format.
The summary table above shows the totals, but the format-wise split reveals patterns that the combined number hides. Some players on this list earned their awards primarily from ODIs, while others spread them more evenly.
Tendulkar’s 76 awards came overwhelmingly from ODIs, with 62 of those from the 50-over format. Kohli is the only player in the top 10 with 16 T20I awards, making him the most prolific match-winner in the shortest format among this group. On the other end, Kallis leads everyone in Test awards with 23, well ahead of Sangakkara and Ponting, who each have 16.
Shahid Afridi never won a single Test award across his career. All 43 of his came from limited-overs cricket. Lara, by contrast, had zero T20I awards because his career ended before the format took hold at the international level.
Sachin Tendulkar: 76 Awards
The all-time leader with a gap that has lasted over a decade.
Tendulkar retired in 2013 with 76 Player of the Match awards, and no one has overtaken him since. Across 664 international matches, he earned those awards at a rate of roughly one every 8.7 games.
His ODI tally of 62 is the highest any player has recorded in a single format within this list. Fourteen Test awards rounded off his collection, but the 50-over game was where Tendulkar imposed himself most consistently as a match-winner.
Virat Kohli: 71 Awards
The closest active challenger, and the only player in this group with a real T20I presence.
Kohli’s 71 awards span all three formats in a way that no other player on this list can match. His 16 T20I awards are the highest of anyone in the top 10.
That alone sets him apart. With 45 ODI awards and 10 in Tests, his spread is the most balanced on the entire list. Still active in 2026 with 559 matches played, Kohli remains the only realistic threat to Tendulkar’s record.
Sanath Jayasuriya: 58 Awards
An ODI specialist who redefined how openers attacked in limited-overs cricket.
Jayasuriya collected 48 of his 58 awards from ODIs, which makes sense given his role as one of cricket’s first truly aggressive openers in 50-over cricket. His Test tally sits at just 4, and he managed 6 in T20Is.
Across 586 international matches between 1989 and 2011, Jayasuriya’s ability to win games single-handedly at the top of the order earned him more awards than all but two other players in history.
Jacques Kallis: 57 Awards
The Test match giant of this list has 23 awards in the longest format.
No one on this list comes close to Kallis in Test cricket. His 23 Test awards are 7 more than the next best in this group. That tally reflects his dual role as a batting anchor and a seam bowler who could break partnerships.
In ODIs, he collected 32 awards, and his 2 T20I awards barely register. Kallis played 519 matches across a career stretching from 1995 to 2014, and his match-winning contributions leaned heavily towards the red-ball game.
Kumar Sangakkara: 50 Awards
A landmark figure who reached the half-century mark in match awards.
Sangakkara is one of only five players in international cricket history to reach 50 Player of the Match awards. His 16 Test awards place him level with Ponting and behind only Kallis on this list.
The ODI count of 31 puts him in the middle tier, while 3 T20I awards show that his peak years came mostly before the shortest format gained real traction. Across 594 matches, his consistency across conditions and continents kept him winning individual awards regularly.
Ricky Ponting: 49 Awards
One short of 50, but his Test and ODI numbers are almost perfectly balanced.
Ponting’s split is unusually even. He earned 16 awards in Tests and 32 in ODIs, making him one of the most balanced performers in this group. Only 1 T20I award sits on his record, from a career that ran mostly before T20 internationals became frequent.
In 560 matches between 1995 and 2012, Ponting’s ability to produce match-defining innings in both formats kept his tally at 49, just below the 50-mark that only four others have crossed.
Shakib Al Hasan: 45 Awards
The only Bangladeshi player on this list, and the best all-rounder in his country’s history.
Shakib stands alone as Bangladesh’s representative in the top 10. His 45 awards from 447 matches give him one of the better awards-per-match ratios in this group.
The split is 6 from Tests, 27 from ODIs, and 12 from T20Is. That T20I count is the second-highest on this list behind Kohli. Shakib’s combination of left-arm spin and middle-order batting made him a consistent match-winner for a team that rarely dominated world cricket.
Rohit Sharma: 45 Awards
Equal on total with Shakib, but built his tally in a completely different way.
Rohit Sharma matches Shakib at 45, yet the makeup is different. Where Shakib earned 6 Test awards, Rohit has just 4. The T20I count tells a different story.
Rohit’s 14 T20I awards are the second highest in this top 10, only behind Kohli. His ODI tally of 27 matches is exactly Shakib’s. Still active in 2026 with 508 matches, Rohit has the runway to push higher up this list if his international career continues.
Shahid Afridi: 43 Awards
Zero Test awards. Every single one came from limited-overs cricket.
Afridi’s record is unlike anyone else on this list. Not a single Test Player of the Match award across his entire career. All 43 came from ODIs and T20Is, with 32 in the 50-over format and 11 in T20Is.
His career spanned 22 years from 1996 to 2018 across 524 matches, and every match-winning performance that earned him an award happened in white-ball cricket. That makes his profile the most lopsided of any player in the top 10.
Brian Lara: 42 Awards
A red-ball master who never played a T20 International.
Lara’s 42 awards are split cleanly between Tests and ODIs, 12 and 30, respectively. The T20I column reads zero because his international career ended in 2007, the same year T20 internationals began to be played regularly.
In 430 matches, Lara’s Test tally of 12 places him as one of the premier match winners in the longest format, behind only Kallis, Sangakkara, and Ponting among this group.
Also Read:
What Sets These 10 Match Winners Apart From the Rest
Tendulkar’s 76 awards sit at the top of a list that includes players from six different countries spanning four decades of international cricket. The common thread is not a single format or a specific skill.
It is consistency across hundreds of matches and the ability to produce a decisive performance when a game is in the balance. Kohli remains the only active player positioned to challenge the record, and his T20I numbers give him a route that Tendulkar never had.
