99.94
Highest Test batting average
Compiled across 52 Tests from 1928 to 1948; he needed four runs in his final innings to average 100 but was bowled for a duck. No batsman since has averaged above 62.
Cricket's records stretch back to the first Test in 1877 and form one of sport's richest statistical archives. Because the game is played in three formats over vastly different lengths, its records range from a batting average measured across a whole career to the number of balls in the fastest century.
Some of these marks look permanent. Bradman's average and Jim Laker's match figures have survived generations, while Muralitharan's wicket haul and Sri Lanka's near-thousand-run innings sit far ahead of the field. Others fall regularly as bats improve and scoring rates climb. The selection below spans batting, bowling, and team records across the formats.
Records
800
Most Test wickets
The Sri Lankan off-spinner reached 800 with his final delivery in Test cricket, against India at Galle. He also took a record 534 ODI wickets, for 1,347 across formats.
34,357
Most international runs
Accumulated over 24 years and 664 international matches, including 15,921 in Tests and 18,426 in ODIs, both format records, alongside 100 international centuries.
400 not out
Highest individual Test innings
Made against England at Antigua, reclaiming the record he had lost to Matthew Hayden's 380. Lara is the only player to hold the mark twice.
264
Highest individual ODI innings
Struck against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, with 33 fours and nine sixes. Rohit has also made three ODI double centuries, more than any other batter.
31 balls
Fastest ODI century
Reached against West Indies at Johannesburg, part of a 149 from 44 balls. He passed fifty in 16 balls, also a record at the time.
19 for 90
Best Test match bowling figures
Taken against Australia at Old Trafford, including 10 for 53 in the second innings, the only bowler to take 19 wickets in a first-class match, a mark unlikely ever to be beaten.
51
Most Test centuries
Scored across 200 Tests between 1989 and 2013, adding to his 49 ODI hundreds for a career total of 100 international centuries, another standing record.
200
Most Test appearances
Debuted at 16 against Pakistan in 1989 and played his 200th and final Test at home in Mumbai in 2013, a span of nearly 24 years at the top level.
952 for 6 declared
Highest team total in a Test
Made against India at the R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, built on 340 from Sanath Jayasuriya and 225 from Roshan Mahanama in a partnership of 576.
26 all out
Lowest team total in a Test
Bowled out by England at Auckland, the lowest completed innings in Test history, a record low that stood essentially unchallenged for decades.
50+
Most ODI centuries
Passed Sachin Tendulkar's long-standing 49 during the 2023 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium, reaching the milestone in far fewer innings.
54 balls
Fastest Test century
Struck against Australia at Christchurch in his farewell Test, beating the previous record of 56 balls held jointly by Viv Richards and Misbah-ul-Haq.
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