# Player of the Match awards (cricket)

In the sport of cricket, a Player of the Match award is given to an outstanding player, almost always the one who makes the most impact in the match. The term was originally used in cricket before being adopted by other sports. The award will usually be given to a player from the winning team, but if a team has lost but a player from the losing team has had an incredible performance then he can also be named as Man of the Match.
In Test cricket, the player of the match award became a regular feature in the mid-1980s. It is usually awarded to the player whose contribution is seen as the most important in winning the game, but there have been many instances of a player on the losing team receiving the award.
In Test matches, Jacques Kallis holds the record for the highest number of awards, with 23 in 166 matches, followed by Muttiah Muralitharan with 19 awards.
In ODI matches Sachin Tendulkar holds the record for the highest number of player of the match awards, with 62 in 463 matches. Sanath Jayasuriya is second with 48.
In Twenty20 Internationals, Sikandar Raza leads with 17 player of the match awards.
Andrea-Mae Zepeda of Austria completed a clean sweep of POTM awards in a WT20I series against Belgium in September 2021. Hayley Matthews achieved the same feat for the West Indies against Australian in October 2023, despite her team losing the series 2–1.

## Test cricket

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

### Most Player of the Match awards in Tests

| Awards | Player | Team | Matches | Career |
| 23 | Jacques Kallis | South Africa | 166 | 1995–2014 |
| 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 | Steve Smith | Australia | 109 | 2010–present |
| 13 | Mahela Jayawardene | Sri Lanka | 149 | 1997–2014 |
| 13 | Joe Root | England | 149 | 2012–present |
| Last updated: 26 October 2024 |||||

### Most Player of the Series awards in Tests

| Awards | Player | Team | Series | Career |
| 11 | Ravichandran Ashwin | India | 43 | 2011–2024 |
| 11 | Muttiah Muralitharan | Sri Lanka | 61 | 1992–2010 |
| 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 | Joe Root | England | 49 | 2012–present |
| 6 | Steve Waugh | Australia | 54 | 1985–2004 |
| Last updated: 3 November 2024 |||||

## One Day International cricket

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

### Most Player of the Match awards in ODIs

| Awards | Player | Team | Matches | Career |
| 62 | Sachin Tendulkar | India | 463 | 1989–2012 |
| 48 | Sanath Jayasuriya | Sri Lanka | 445 | 1989–2011 |
| 43 | Virat Kohli | India | 301 | 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: 4 March 2025 |||||

### Most Player of the Series awards in ODIs

| Awards | Player | Team | Series | Career |
| 15 | Sachin Tendulkar | India | 108 | 1989–2012 |
| 11 | Virat Kohli | India | 72 | 2008–present |
| 11 | Sanath Jayasuriya | Sri Lanka | 111 | 1989–2011 |
| 9 | Shaun Pollock | South Africa | 60 | 1996–2008 |
| 8 | Chris Gayle | West Indies | 71 | 1999–2019 |
| 7 | Vivian Richards | West Indies | 40 | 1975–1991 |
| 7 | Hashim Amla | South Africa | 49 | 2008–2019 |
| 7 | Yuvraj Singh | India | 71 | 2000–2019 |
| 7 | Shakib Al Hasan | Bangladesh | 73 | 2006–present |
| 7 | Sourav Ganguly | India | 75 | 1992–2007 |
| 7 | Ricky Ponting | Australia | 77 | 1995–2012 |
| 7 | Mahendra Singh Dhoni | India | 80 | 2004–2019 |
| Last updated: 7 August 2024 |||||

## Twenty20 International cricket

Note: Players in bold are still active in T20I cricket.

### Most Player of the Match awards in T20Is

| Awards | Player | Team | Matches | Career |
| 17 | Sikandar Raza | Zimbabwe | 96 | 2013–present |
| 16 | Suryakumar Yadav | India | 78 | 2021–present |
| 16 | Virandeep Singh | Malaysia | 84 | 2019–present |
| 16 | Virat Kohli | India | 125 | 2010–2024 |
| 14 | Mohammad Nabi | Afghanistan | 129 | 2010–present |
| 14 | Rohit Sharma | India | 159 | 2007–2024 |
| Last updated: 15 November 2024 |||||

### Most Player of the Series awards in T20Is

| Awards | Player | Team | Series | Career |
| 7 | Virat Kohli | India | 46 | 2010–2024 |
| 5 | Suryakumar Yadav | India | 22 | 2021–present |
| 5 | Wanindu Hasaranga | Sri Lanka | 23 | 2019–present |
| 5 | Babar Azam | Pakistan | 36 | 2016–present |
| 5 | David Warner | Australia | 42 | 2009–2024 |
| 5 | Shakib Al Hasan | Bangladesh | 45 | 2006–present |
| Last updated: 15 November 2024 |||||

## All formats

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

### Most Player of the Match awards in international cricket

| Awards | Player | Team | Matches | Tests | ODIs | T20Is |
| 76 | Sachin Tendulkar | India | 664 | 14 | 62 | 0 |
| 69 | Virat Kohli | India | 548 | 10 | 43 | 16 |
| 58 | Sanath Jayasuriya | Sri Lanka | 586 | 4 | 48 | 6 |
| 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 |
| 45 | Shakib Al Hasan | Bangladesh | 447 | 6 | 27 | 12 |
| 43 | Rohit Sharma | India | 496 | 4 | 25 | 14 |
| 43 | Shahid Afridi | Pakistan | 524 | 0 | 32 | 11 |
| 42 | Brian Lara | West Indies | 430 | 12 | 30 | 0 |
| Last updated: 4 March 2025 |||||||

## 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. 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. It was the first time that a whole team had been given the Man of the Match award.
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.

### 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.
* 15–18 January Scorecard
* South Africa won by 351 runs SuperSport Park, Centurion Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pak) and Billy Bowden (NZ) Player of the match: South Africa
* West Indies won the toss and elected to field.
* This is the first time that the West Indies lost a series 5–0.
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. On 1 September 1996, Pakistan team has been awarded man of the match for their team performance against England for their 2 wicket win.
* 3 April 1996 Scorecard
| New Zealand 158 (35.5 overs) | v | West Indies 154 (49.1 overs) |
| Craig Spearman 41 (39) Laurie Williams 3/16 (4.5 overs) | | Roland Holder 49* (86) Chris Cairns 2/17 (5.1 overs) |
* New Zealand won by 4 runs Bourda, Georgetown, Guyana Umpires: Clyde Duncan (WI) and Eddie Nicholls (WI) Player of the match: New Zealand
* West Indies won the toss and elected to field.
* 1 September 1996 Scorecard
| England 246 (50 overs) | v | Pakistan 247/8 (49.4 overs) |
| Nick Knight 125* (145) Wasim Akram 3/45 (10 overs) | | Saeed Anwar 61 (59) Adam Hollioake 4/45 (8.4 overs) |
* Pakistan won by 2 wickets Trent Bridge, Nottingham Umpires: John Holder (Eng) and David Shepherd (Eng) Player of the match: Pakistan
* England won the toss and elected to bat.
* Shahid Anwar, Shadab Kabir and Shahid Nazir (All Pak) made their ODI debuts.

### 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.
| # | 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.
| # | 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.
| # | 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.
| # | 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 |