In this article, we’ll talk about some cricketing legends who hold the incredible record for Most balls faced in an innings in various formats of the game.
Cricket is known for several fascinating records. Some of these records remain unbroken for many decades. The two key aspects of the game are certainly batting and bowling and everything else revolves around it. The batsman’s job is to make the most out of every ball. A bowler primarily focuses on getting the player out of the field and save runs. Let’s talk about some legendary Batsmen who hold the record for Most balls faced in an innings in various formats of the game.
Maximum Balls Faced in Test Cricket
Former Indian captain- Rahul Dravid is arguably the best batsman to play the sport in test format. Popularly known as ‘The Wall’, he is one of the most technically gifted players ever. His excellent defense techniques often drove bowlers crazy. On his day, he can duck all bouncers coming over him all day.
Rahul Dravid holds the record of maximum Balls Faced in Test Cricket. In a career that lasted for over one and a half-decade, he played a total of 164 test matches for India. He faced a total of 31258 balls while amassing 13288 runs. He scored 63 fifties and 36 hundred while averaging 52.3 runs per game. This is an uphill task even for the most promising newcomers.
Rahul Dravid, alongside VVS Laxman, formed the backbone of Indian batting partnership in Test cricket format. A batsman with an amazing technique, he could convert any delivery that you throw at him into runs. He was equally good at facing pacers and spinners. He was part of the golden era of Indian cricket that featured the legendary Sachin Tendulkar and former captain- Sourav Ganguly.
Sachin Tendulkar, also known as The Little Master has played significantly more test matches (200) than Rahul Dravid but could not reach the 30,000 balls mark. Even astonishing is to note that Rahul Dravid faced some of the best bowlers in the history of the sport for the majority of his career. The list includes bowlers such as Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Wasim Akram to name a few.
In recent years, talented players such as Kane Williamson and Cheteshwar Pujara have shown a similar caliber as The Wall. However, with a rise in 20-20 and ODI format, it will take something out of this world to break this record set by Rahul Dravid.
Most Balls Faced in Test Innings
There have been many fascinating innings played by batsmen in test matches. The likes of Brian Lara, Vivian Richards, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and Donald Bradman played dozens of memorable innings. However, it is the legendary English player- Leonard Hutton who holds the record of facing the most balls in a test match inning.
Leonard Hutton delivered one of his finest performances against Australia during a heated match in the Ashes series. He faced a total of 847 balls and scored 364 runs. During this inning, Hutton broke the then-record of highest runs scored in an inning by beating Don Bradman’s record of 334 runs. To date, no player has come close when it comes to beating Hutton’s long-lasting record.
Most Balls Faced by a Player in ODI Cricket
Sachin Tendulkar, arguably the best batsman in the history of ODI format holds the record for facing the most number of balls in ODI Cricket. He holds more records than any other cricketer, thanks to his astonishing career that spans over two decades. Tendulkar played a total of 463 ODI matches and faced 21,367 deliveries.
The little master scored a total of 18,426 ODI runs with aid of 96-fifty and 49-hundred. Sachin is the only player to face over 20,000 balls in ODI format. He is also the only player to face over 50,000 balls in total. Never say never, but these records are not likely to be broken any time soon. Take a bow!
Most Balls faced by a player in an ODI Inning
An ODI inning has a maximum of 300 legal deliveries (50 overs). The great Kiwi opener- Glenn Turner holds the record of facing the most number of balls in an ODI Inning. Glenn faced an unbelievable 201 balls against Africa in 1975. He finished the inning with 171 runs. Interestingly, Glenn Turner also holds the second spot for the same record for his remarkable inning against India when he faced 177 balls. While Virat Kohli- the current Indian Captain has been breaking several batting records, the above-mentioned records look almost impossible to even for him to surpass.
