For any player in any sport, playing for his country is a thing of massive pride for the player and no different is cricket. Every player starts their career thinking of playing for their country in future.
There are certain players who go on become star player and gets recognition from worldwide, but at the same time, due to heavy competition nowadays for places in a national team, many players doesn’t get much opportunities.
However, there are certain players who plays so well that they become an important member of the team and plays for the country for a very long time. Today, in this article, we take a look at 4 players who have represented their country the longest in International cricket.
Sachin Tendulkar
The first name in this list is none other than Sachin Tendulkar, popularly known as ‘Master Blaster’ and the ‘God of Cricket’. Tendulkar made his ODI debut against Pakistan on 18 December 1989 and played a total of 463 ODIs in his entire ODI career, in which he scored 18426 runs with the help of 49 centuries.
Let us tell you that Sachin’s ODI career was 22 years and 91 days long. On 18 March 2012, the legendary Indian cricketer was last seen playing ODI cricket.
Sanath Jayasuriya
Sri Lanka’s legendary batsman Sanath Jayasuriya comes in second place in terms of playing ODI cricket for the longest time. He played ODIs for his country for 21 years and 184 days, as a result of which Jayasuriya successfully reached 10,000 runs in ODI cricket and took 300 wickets as well. Let us tell you that the Sri Lankan veteran batsman played a total of 445 ODIs in his entire ODI career.
Aravinda de Silva
Sri Lanka once had a distinct dominance in world cricket. Even though the team looks weak today, but there was a time when good teams had to struggle a lot while playing against Sri Lanka. Cricketers like Aravinda de Silva had an important contribution towards this. Silva’s ODI career lasted for 18 years 352 days. De Silva played his last match in the 2003 World Cup and scored 9284 runs in 308 matches in his ODI career.
Jacques Kallis
Jacques Kallis is the next player in this list. Kallis made his ODI debut on 9th January 1996. The legendary all-rounder for South Africa played ODIs for his country for 18 years and 184 days. Kallis last played a ODI match in 2014. In his entire ODI career, Kallis scored 11579 runs in 328 ODIs and also took 273 wickets.