Player of the Match awards (cricket)

In sport of cricket, a Man of the Match or Player of the Match and Player of the Series award is given to the outstanding player, almost always the one who makes the most impact, in a particular match or series. The term was originally used more often in cricket before being adopted by other sports. This can be a player from either team, usually the winning team.

In cricket, the man of the match award became a regular feature in Test matches in the mid 1980s.^[1] The man of the match title is usually awarded to the player whose contribution is seen as the most critical in winning the game. However, there have been many instances when the performance of the losing team's player has earned him the award.^[2]

In Test matches, Jacques Kallis holds the record for the highest number of awards won, with 23 in 166 matches played, which is then followed by Muttiah Muralitharan with 19 awards.^[1]

In ODI Sachin Tendulkar holds the record for the highest number of man of the match titles, with 62 awards in 463 matches played.^[3] Sanath Jayasuriya is second in the list with 48 man of the match awards in one day internationals.

In Twenty20 Internationals, Mohammad Nabi with 13 awards, followed by Virat Kohli with 12 awards.^[4]

Test cricket[]

Note: Players in bold are still active in international cricket.

Most Player of the Match awards[]

Awards	Player	Team	Matches	Career
23	Jacques Kallis	South Africa	166	1995–2013
19	Muttiah Muralitharan	Sri Lanka	133	1992–2010
17	Wasim Akram	Pakistan	104	1985–2002
17	Shane Warne	Australia	145	1992–2007
16	Kumar Sangakkara	Sri Lanka	134	2000–2015
16	Ricky Ponting	Australia	168	1995–2012
14	Curtly Ambrose	West Indies	98	1988–2000
14	Steve Waugh	Australia	168	1985–2004
14	Sachin Tendulkar	India	200	1989–2013
13	Mahela Jayawardene	Sri Lanka	149	1997–2014
Last updated: 21 March 2021[5]

Most Player of the Series awards[]

Awards	Player	Team	Series	Career
11	Muttiah Muralitharan	Sri Lanka	61	1992–2010
9	Ravichandran Ashwin	India	34	2011–present
9	Jacques Kallis	South Africa	61	1995–2013
8	Imran Khan	Pakistan	28	1971–1992
8	Richard Hadlee	New Zealand	33	1973–1990
8	Shane Warne	Australia	46	1992–2007
7	Wasim Akram	Pakistan	43	1985–2002
7	Shivnarine Chanderpaul	West Indies	60	1994–2015
6	Malcolm Marshall	West Indies	21	1978–1991
6	Curtly Ambrose	West Indies	27	1988–2000
6	Steve Waugh	Australia	54	1985–2004
Last updated: 06 December 2021[6]

One Day International cricket[]

Note: Players in bold are still active in international cricket.

Most Player of the Match awards[]

Awards	Player	Team	Matches	Career
62	Sachin Tendulkar	India	463	1989–2012
48	Sanath Jayasuriya	Sri Lanka	445	1989–2011
36	Virat Kohli	India	254	2008–present
32	Jacques Kallis	South Africa	328	1996–2014
32	Ricky Ponting	Australia	375	1995–2012
32	Shahid Afridi	Pakistan	398	1996–2015
31	Vivian Richards	West Indies	187	1975–1991
31	Sourav Ganguly	India	311	1992–2007
31	Kumar Sangakkara	Sri Lanka	404	2000–2015
30	Brian Lara	West Indies	299	1990–2007
30	Aravinda de Silva	Sri Lanka	308	1984–2003
Last updated: 28 March 2021[7]

Most Player of the Series awards[]

Awards	Player	Team	Series	Career
15	Sachin Tendulkar	India	108	1989–2012
11	Sanath Jayasuriya	Sri Lanka	111	1989–2011
9	Virat Kohli	India	60	2008–present
9	Shaun Pollock	South Africa	60	1996–2008
8	Chris Gayle	West Indies	71	1999–present
7	Vivian Richards	West Indies	40	1975–1991
7	Hashim Amla	South Africa	49	2008–2019
7	Yuvraj Singh	India	71	2000–2019
7	Sourav Ganguly	India	75	1992–2007
7	Ricky Ponting	Australia	77	1995–2012
7	Mahendra Singh Dhoni	India	80	2004–2019
6	Shakib Al Hasan	Bangladesh		2006–2021
Last updated: 28 March 2021[8]

Twenty20 International cricket[]

Note: Players in bold are still active in international cricket.

Most Player of the Match awards[]

Awards	Player	Team	Innings	Career
13	Mohammad Nabi	Afghanistan	86	2010–present
12	Virat Kohli	India	95	2010–present
11	Shahid Afridi	Pakistan	99	2006–2018
11	Mohammad Hafeez	Pakistan	119	2006–present
11	Rohit Sharma	India	119	2007–present
10	Chris Gayle	West Indies	79	2006–present
10	David Warner	Australia	88	2009–present
10	Martin Guptill	New Zealand	112	2009–present
9	Shane Watson	Australia	58	2006–2016
9	Mohammad Shahzad	Afghanistan	70	2010–present
Last updated:07 December 2021[9]

Most Player of the Series awards[]

Awards	Player	Team	Series	Career
7	Virat Kohli	India	37	2010–present
4	Babar Azam	Pakistan	17	2016–present
4	Mohammad Hafeez	Pakistan	43	2006–present
3	Glenn Maxwell	Australia	28	2012–present
3	Shakib Al Hasan	Bangladesh	30	2006–present
3	Shahid Afridi	Pakistan	42	2006–2018
3	Shoaib Malik	Pakistan	45	2006–present
2	Rohit Sharma	India	22	2006–present
Last updated: 21 March 2021[10]

All formats[]

Note: Players in bold are still active in international cricket.

Most Player of the Match awards[]

Awards	Player	Team	Matches	Tests	ODIs	T20Is
76	Sachin Tendulkar	India	664	14	62	0
58	Sanath Jayasuriya	Sri Lanka	586	4	48	6
57	Virat Kohli	India	443	9	36	12
57	Jacques Kallis	South Africa	519	23	32	2
50	Kumar Sangakkara	Sri Lanka	594	16	31	3
49	Ricky Ponting	Australia	560	16	32	1
43	Shahid Afridi	Pakistan	524	0	32	11
42	Brian Lara	West Indies	430	12	30	0
41	Vivian Richards	West Indies	308	10	31	0
41	Aravinda de Silva	Sri Lanka	401	11	30	0
41	Mahela Jayawardene	Sri Lanka	652	13	22	6
Last updated: 28 March 2021[11]

Most Player of the Series awards[]

Awards	Player	Team	Series	Tests	ODIs	T20Is
20	Sachin Tendulkar	India	183	5	15	0
19	Virat Kohli	India	129	3	9	7
16	Shakib Al Hasan	Bangladesh	126	5	7	4
15	Jacques Kallis	South Africa	148	9	6	0
13	Sanath Jayasuriya	Sri Lanka	176	2	11	0
12	Chris Gayle	West Indies	137	2	8	2
11	Shaun Pollock	South Africa	107	2	9	0
11	Shivnarine Chanderpaul	West Indies	136	7	4	0
11	Ricky Ponting	Australia	147	4	7	0
11	Muttiah Muralitharan	Sri Lanka	155	11	0	0
Last updated: 28 March 2021[12]

Shared awards[]

Occasionally in international cricket awards are shared, sometimes between two players of the same side or players of both sides. On these occasions, the commentators and other awarding authorities held on to share the awards, without giving the award to a player of the winning team.^[13] In Test cricket there have been rare instances when a joint award for man of the match or man of the series has been announced. However, in ODIs and Twenty20 internationals this is usually when a member of the losing team is the highest scorer, such as when Charles Coventry (194) and Tamim Iqbal (154) shared the award after Zimbabwe lost the match. In another interesting match held on 3 April 1996, the whole New Zealand team was awarded the Man of the Match award by adjudicator Basil Butcher who pronounced it a team performance.^[14] It was the first time that a whole team had been given the Man of the Match award.^[15]

There have been only three occasions, one in test cricket and two in ODI cricket, when the whole team has been awarded the man of the match by considering the team performance rather than individual performances.^[13]

Team Man of the Match awards[]

In Test cricket, South Africa has been awarded Team man of the match award, in the West Indies tour in 1998/99 season. The match was won by South Africa by 351 runs and whole 11 players awarded the man of the match award.^[13]

In ODI cricket, New Zealand team has been awarded man of the match award for their team performances to 4 run victory against the West Indies on 3 April 1996.^[16][17] On 1 September 1996, Pakistan team has been awarded man of the match for their team performance against England for their 2 wicket win.

Joint awards in Tests[]

Joint awards are sometimes given to two players, either from the same team or one from each team. As of 2017, there have been 14 instances where two players from the same team were given the Man of the Match award in Test cricket.^[18]

#	Match	Venue	Date	MoM 1	MoM 2	Result
1	India v Sri Lanka	Nagpur	27 December 1986	Dilip Vengsarkar	Maninder Singh	India won
2	New Zealand v West Indies	Christchurch	12 March 1987	Richard Hadlee	Ewen Chatfield	New Zealand won
3	New Zealand v Sri Lanka	Hamilton	22 February 1991	Ian Smith	Andrew Jones	Drawn
4	New Zealand v Australia	Auckland	12 March 1993	Ken Rutherford	Danny Morrison	New Zealand won
5	New Zealand v Pakistan	Christchurch	24 February 1994	Shane Thomson	Bryan Young	New Zealand won
6	Zimbabwe v Pakistan	Harare	31 January 1995	Andy Flower	Grant Flower	Zimbabwe won
7	England v South Africa	Johannesburg	30 November 1995	Jack Russell	Mike Atherton	Drawn
8	Australia v South Africa	Johannesburg	28 February 1997	Steve Waugh	Greg Blewett	Australia won
9	South Africa v Zimbabwe	Harare	11 November 1999	Shaun Pollock	Mark Boucher	South Africa won
10	South Africa v Zimbabwe	Bloemfontein	17 November 2000	Jacques Kallis	Makhaya Ntini	South Africa won
11	Australia v South Africa	Sydney	2 January 2002	Justin Langer	Matthew Hayden	Australia won
12	South Africa v England	London	31 January 2003	Makhaya Ntini	Graeme Smith	South Africa won
13	Pakistan v South Africa	Lahore	17 October 2003	Taufeeq Umar	Danish Kaneria	Pakistan won
14	South Africa v England	Johannesburg	14 January 2010	Dale Steyn	Morne Morkel	South Africa won

Until 2017, there have been 26 instances where one player from each team was given the Man of the Match award in Test cricket.^[18]

#	Match	Venue	Date	MoM 1	MoM 2	Result
1	Pakistan v West Indies	Port of Spain	4 March 1977	Wasim Raja	Colin Croft	West Indies won
2	New Zealand v India	Wellington	21 February 1981	Geoff Howarth	Sandeep Patil	New Zealand won
3	New Zealand v India	Auckland	13 March 1981	John Wright	Ravi Shastri	Drawn
4	England v West Indies	London	28 June 1984	Ian Botham	Gordon Greenidge	West Indies won
5	West Indies v New Zealand	Port of Spain	29 March 1985	Vivian Richards	Ewen Chatfield	Drawn
6	India v Australia	Chepauk	18 September 1986	Kapil Dev	Dean Jones	Tied
7	Pakistan v India	Chepauk	3 February 1987	Imran Khan	Kris Srikkanth	Drawn
8	England v Sri Lanka	London	25 August 1988	Phil Newport	Ravi Ratnayeke	England won
9	Australia v Pakistan	Faisalabad	23 September 1988	Allan Border	Ijaz Ahmed	Drawn
10	West Indies v Australia	Kingston	1 March 1991	Gus Logie	David Boon	Drawn
11	England v Sri Lanka	London	22 August 1991	Alec Stewart	Ravi Ratnayeke	England won
12	West Indies v South Africa	Bridgetown	18 April 1992	Curtly Ambrose	Andrew Hudson	West Indies won
13	England v New Zealand	Auckland	24 January 1997	Alec Stewart	Nathan Astle	Drawn
14	West Indies v India	Georgetown	17 April 1997	Shiv Chanderpaul	Rahul Dravid	Drawn
15	South Africa v Pakistan	Johannesburg	14 February 1998	Pat Symcox	Azhar Mahmood	Drawn
16	Pakistan v India	Kolkata	16 February 1999	Saeed Anwar	Javagal Srinath	Pakistan won
17	Sri Lanka v Australia	Kandy	9 September 1999	Aravinda de Silva	Ricky Ponting	Sri Lanka won
18	Zimbabwe v Sri Lanka	Harare	4 December 1999	Andy Flower	Russell Arnold	Drawn
19	England v South Africa	Durban	26 December 1999	Andy Caddick	Gary Kirsten	Drawn
20	Sri Lanka v South Africa	Kandy	30 July 2000	Arjuna Ranatunga	Lance Klusener	South Africa won
21	India v Australia	Chepauk	18 March 2001	Harbhajan Singh	Matthew Hayden	India won
22	Sri Lanka v Bangladesh	Colombo	6 September 2001	Muttiah Muralitharan	Mohammad Ashraful	Sri Lanka won
23	Sri Lanka v West Indies	Colombo	29 November 2001	Chaminda Vaas	Brian Lara	Sri Lanka won
24	South Africa v Pakistan	Faisalabad	24 October 2003	Gary Kirsten	Taufeeq Umar	Drawn
25	Sri Lanka v Pakistan	Colombo	12 July 2009	Nuwan Kulasekara	Fawad Alam	Sri Lanka won
26	Pakistan v Australia	London	13 July 2010	Salman Butt	Simon Katich	Australia won

There was one rare instance where three players were given the man of the match award in Test cricket. This happened between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in February 1991 at Hamilton.^[19]

#	Match	Venue	Date	MoM 1	MoM 2	MoM 3	Result
1	New Zealand v Sri Lanka	Hamilton	4 March 1977	Ian Smith	Andrew Jones	Asanka Gurusinha	Drawn

In one occasion in international cricket, man of the match was given to a non-player, specifically to the ground staff. In the third Test match between South Africa and New Zealand on 8 December 2000 at Johannesburg, the fifth day was delayed due to rain. However, with the help of the ground staff, managed by Chris Scott, the Head Groundsman, the play continued and the match ended in a draw.^[20]

#	Match	Venue	Date	MoM	Result
1	South Africa v New Zealand	Johannesburg	8 December 2000	Chris Scott (Head Groundsman) and his crew	Drawn

Joint awards in One Day Internationals[]

As of 2020, there have been 18 instances where two players from the same team were given the Man of the Match award in ODI cricket.

#	Match	Venue	Date	MoM 1	MoM 2	Result
1	New Zealand v Australia	Dunedin	19 March 1986	Martin Crowe	Richard Hadlee	New Zealand won
2	New Zealand v Australia	Wellington	26 March 1986	Wayne Phillips	Steve Waugh	Australia won
3	India v New Zealand	Nagpur	31 October 1987	Sunil Gavaskar	Chetan Sharma	India won
4	Australia v India	Sydney	20 January 1992	David Boon	Geoff Marsh	Australia won
5	Pakistan v New Zealand	Port Elizabeth	13 December 1994	Aqib Javed	Waqar Younis	Pakistan won
6	Australia v Sri Lanka	Sydney	20 January 1996	Mark Taylor	Shane Warne	Australia won
7	India v Zimbabwe	Centurion	7 February 1997	Craig Evans	Paul Strang	Zimbabwe won
8	New Zealand v England	Auckland	2 March 1997	Nathan Astle	Gavin Larsen	New Zealand won
9	Pakistan v India	Sharjah	26 March 2000	Inzamam-ul-Haq	Waqar Younis	Pakistan won
10	New Zealand v Sri Lanka	Sharjah	17 April 2001	Kyle Mills	Mathew Sinclair	New Zealand won
11	Pakistan v New Zealand	Rawalpindi	7 December 2003	Yasir Hameed	Imran Farhat	Pakistan won
12	South Africa v New Zealand	Port Elizabeth	30 November 2007	Jamie How	Brendon McCullum	New Zealand won
13	South Africa v Pakistan	Johannesburg	17 March 2013	Hashim Amla	AB de Villiers	South Africa won
14	New Zealand v Sri Lanka	Dunedin	23 January 2015	Luke Ronchi	Grant Elliott	New Zealand won
15	New Zealand v Zimbabwe	Harare	4 August 2015	Martin Guptill	Tom Latham	New Zealand won
16	Zimbabwe v Afghanistan	Harare	21 February 2017	Tendai Chatara	Sean Williams	Zimbabwe won
17	Afghanistan v Ireland	Greater Noida	10 March 2017	Najeeb Tarakai	Rashid Khan	Afghanistan won
18	South Africa v Australia	Bloemfontein	4 March 2020	Lungi Ngidi	Janneman Malan	South Africa won

Until 2018, there have been 14 instances where one player from each team was given the Man of the Match awards in ODI cricket.

#	Match	Venue	Date	MoM 1	MoM 2	Result
1	Australia v England	Melbourne	1 January 1975	Ian Chappell	Dennis Amiss	England won
2	India v England	Pune	5 December 1984	Dilip Vengsarkar	Mike Gatting	England won
3	Australia v West Indies	Sydney	12 February 1985	Allan Border	Michael Holding	West Indies won
4	India v South Africa	Kolkata	10 November 1991	Sachin Tendulkar	Allan Donald	India won
5	Zimbabwe v Pakistan	Harare	22 February 1995	Bryan Strang	Saeed Anwar	Tied
6	Zimbabwe v England	Harare	1 January 1997	Paul Strang	John Crawley	Zimbabwe won
7	South Africa v India	East London	4 February 1997	Gary Kirsten	Saurav Ganguly	South Africa won
8	West Indies v Australia	Georgetown	21 April 1999	Mervyn Dillon	Steve Waugh	Tied
9	South Africa v Australia	Johannesburg	12 March 2006	Herschelle Gibbs	Ricky Ponting	South Africa won
10	South Africa v Sri Lanka	Georgetown	28 March 2007	Charl Langeveldt	Lasith Malinga	South Africa won
11	Zimbabwe v Bangladesh	Bulawayo	16 August 2009	Charles Coventry	Tamim Iqbal	Bangladesh won
12	England v India	London	11 September 2011	Ravi Bopara	Suresh Raina	Tied
13	West Indies v Pakistan	Gros Islet	19 July 2013	Lendl Simmons	Misbah-ul-Haq	Tied
14	Zimbabwe v Afghanistan	Bulawayo	24 October 2015	Sean Williams	Dawlat Zadran	Afghanistan won

References[]