I was just watching the 2015 world-cup highlights where aussie player Mitchell Starc got the player of the series award for his ruthless bowling throughout the entire tournament which made me think that, We see in each and every ICC and bilateral matches where cricketers gets player of the award but who is the number one player who has the most man of the series in international cricket?
Well the straight forward answer for your questions is, Modern day GOAT Virat Kohli has the most man of the series in International Cricket where he won 20 man of the series award out of 149 series which he played in the span of 2008-2023.
Although, there are many more cricketers who comes in the this high profile list of most player of the series in international cricket from many cricket playing nations of the world. Therefore, let’s go through all the players who are in the top 5.
Top 5 Players With Most MOS Awards In International Cricket
1. Virat Kohli
- As I mentioned above Virat Kohli tops this list with “20 man of the series trophies” in his career as of now in 2023 and he might add some more in his account if he plays for another 3,4 years where he can see him bashing the teams with his batting ability which we have seen in the past as well.
- let’s take an eye of his iconic and famous performances where he got man of the series, Many cricket critics says that Virat Kohli’s playstyle and his approach is not appropriate for T20 cricket, but this man proved everyone wrong in the 2014 and 2016 T20 world cups where he received player of the trophy for entire series twice in two consecutive T20 world cups.
- Moreover, Virat Kohli even scored 82* runs against australia in 2016 t20 world cup in a quarter final game which kept India alive in that tournament. People may troll him for not having a IPL title, but when it comes to perform for the nation in crucial games he has always stood up for the team.
2. Sachin Tendulkar
- Another Indian batsman who is popularly known as “God of cricket” Sachin Tendulkar who has dominated great bowlers of his era like Brett lee, Shoaib Akhtar, Dale Steyn and many more. If you ever sit and look at all of his records you, people might starts argument on deciding which was the the best achievement of his career.
- Despite playing in the era of legendary bowlers, Sachin Tendulkar has played 183 series which includes all three formats and won “20 player of series trophies” in the time period between 1989-2013, and registered his name in the list of most man of the series in international cricket.
- If you look closely you’ll notice that Virat and Sachin is now has equal player of series award which is 20, now it will be interesting to see in which upcoming series or tournament Kohli surpasses Sachin, you never know it can be his next series against West Indies as well.
3. Shakib Al Hasan
- The man who scored the magnificent century in 2019 world cup against West Indies and possibly the best all-rounder of the Bangladesh Cricket’s history, Shakib Al Hasan featured in the 3rd position in terms of having most man of the series in international cricket, where he got player of the series title 16 times out of 145 series in his cricketing career.
- Shakib made his international debut in the year 2006 and playing till now in 2023, in all these years of his cricket journey Shakib aroused as a successful all rounder in all three formats of game. However, in recent the Shakib has been criticized for his rude and furious behaviour against the umpire’s decision on the field in 2021.
- Apart from his controversial behaviours at many occasion, Shakib is undoubtedly a complete player of this game with his arm balls and slog hitting he has made pretty good impact in the world cricket.
- His recent best bowling performance came against the India in ODI where he picked 5 wickets and hugely contributed to win the game for his nation in 2022 tour.
4. Sanath Jayasuriya
- Former Sri Lankan left handed batter, Sanath Jayasuriya who was a fearless batsman regardless of whoever is bowling. The powerful and iconic player Jayasuriya claims 4th place in this list of most man of the series in international cricket by having 13 player of the series awards in 176 series of all formats.
- Jayasuriya always used to love performance against big teams, memorable example can be his 189 runs vs India in 2000 champions trophy which was played in Sharjah. This man came and introduced destructive batting approach before the players like Sehwag, ABD, Dhoni, Gayle etc but did not got enough popularity and appreciation by the world.
- Today’s test cricket legend bowler’s like Jimmy Anderson used to struggle to find his rhythm against Sanath Jayasuriya because of his explosive batting in test cricket as well, he even once scored 6-fours in a over against Anderson which really dictates his mindset while playing on the pitch.
5. David Warner
- Aussie opener David Warner who literally helped in carrying the aggressive legacy of prime Australian team era made his way in this elite list of Most man of the series in international cricket where, he played 115 series in the span of 2009-2023 and received 12 player of the series awards which is absolutely phenomenal.
- A friend of mine asked, Why David Warner is considered as a modern day great player? He is not even scoring any fifties or hundreds in past few years. My answer was pretty simple I just suggested him to watching him playing before 2018 where he used to smash centuries for fun against big teams like England, India, and South Africa.
- Certainly after his ban period, he does not look like old aggressive Warner who used to involve in heated conversations and also changed his approach little bit passive towards the game. Still he has some good records in 2019 ODI world cup and important ICC trophies matches.
- Probably Warner is approaching his age towards 40 in some years, which we might only see him another 1 or hardly 2 years on the field. Nevertheless he has created some huge moment in his career which can be remembered for years.
