Tendulkar, Ponting, Dravid: Full list of legends with 500 or more international caps as Virat Kohli joins special club

Virat Kohli will appear in his 500th international match on Thursday as India take on West Indies in the 2nd Test.

The second Test match between India and West Indies, being played at Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad, will provide a landmark moment for one of the players involved. Virat Kohli will become the 10th and newest member of a very exclusive club of players: those who have represented their country on 500 or more occasions at the international stage.

Virat Kohli (extreme right) will become the only tenth player to reach 500 international matches. From L to R - Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Rahul Dravid, and Kohli (Files)

So, we have compiled a complete list of players who are not only legends in their own right, but also surpassed the mammoth 500-match mark in international stage. Many of these players thrived across formats and set records, synonymous with success and greatness. Here is a list of the 9 players who have filled the history books by achieving that feat over the course of their careers:

Sachin Tendulkar — 664 matches

Unsurprisingly, the greatest run-scorer and arguably the greatest batter of all time sits at top of this list. Tendulkar’s greatness was added to by his immense longevity. He made his debut as 16-year-old in 1989 and played past his 40th birthday in 2013, amassing 664 matches (only one of which was a T20I), 34000+ runs, and 100 centuries in his career. He also finished his career with a commendable 201 wickets.

Mahela Jayawardena — 652 matches

Jayawardena was a staple of the Sri Lankan middle order in one of their most successful era of cricket. Making his debut on the heels of the 1996 World Cup triumph, the stylish batter would have an 18-year-long career. He scored nearly 26000 runs and boasts of a century in all three formats of the game. Interestingly, Jayawardena is also famously the player with the most outfield catches in international cricket.

Kumar Sangakkara — 594 matches

Being a wicketkeeper is up there as one of the most taxing roles in cricket, but Sangakkara kitted up for a large portion of his 594 matches for Sri Lanka with the gloves as well. Playing from 2000 to 2015, Sangakkara was also one of the finest batters of his generation, scoring over 28000 runs and holding the best Test average of anyone with 10000 Test runs.

Sanath Jayasuriya — 586 matches

The first all-rounder on this list, Jayasuriya was not only a fine cricketer, but one who redefined the way white-ball cricket is played. His career lasted 22 years, and he provided incredible value to Sri Lanka as both an opener and an alternative left-arm spinning option behind Muttiah Muralitharan.

Ricky Ponting — 560 matches

The highest-placed non-Asian player on this list, Ponting’s excellence with bat and as captain made him a primary figure during their dominance of world cricket through the 2000s. Behind only MS Dhoni in most matches as captain, Ponting racked up 71 centuries through his career, and is widely regarded as one of the finest cricketers and leaders of all time.

MS Dhoni — 538 matches

The first cricketer in this list to play the entirety of his career during the T20 era, Dhoni also holds the record for most international matches as captain. Winning all three major ICC trophies, Dhoni was a rock as the Indian team’s leader as well as their finisher. At the time of his international retirement, Dhoni was 10 Test matches and 2 T20Is away from becoming the first player to play 100 matches in all formats.

Shahid Afridi — 524 matches

Shahid Afridi was ever-present for Pakistan in a career that spanned over 20 years, and a true all-rounder in all senses of the word. Another player who started off very young, Afridi is amongst the youngest centurions in Test cricket, and outright the youngest ever centurion in ODIs, having scored his first at 16 years old.

Jacques Kallis — 519 matches

The fact that Kallis reached over 500 appearances as a pace bowler alongside being South Africa’s most prominent top-order batter is remarkable. Kallis’s nature as the “Jacques-of-all-trades” and an incredibly rare type of player is well-documented: over 25000 runs and 500 wickets across 20 years, the South African is quite simply one of the greatest cricketers of all time.

Rahul Dravid — 509 matches

Nobody in the history of Test cricket survived to face as many deliveries as Rahul Dravid. The rock-solid ‘wall’ in the heart of the Indian batting scored over 24000 runs and was an opponent any bowler would hate to try and dismiss. Dravid was a constant at number 3 until nearly his 40th birthday, and for many, defined the way Test cricket is meant to be played by a top order batter.