Top 5 Longest Career in International Cricket

If there is a general discussion about the longest Cricket careers on an international field many people would be taking the name of India’s Batting Maestro Sachin Tendulkar, but actually he played the highest matches in a career but was not the longest career. The Longest Cricketing career was of India’s Mithali Raj which lasted 22 years, 274 days. Here we take a look at the top 5 longest careers in International Cricket including both men’s and Women’s Cricket.

1. Mithali Raj

   

Mithali Raj played cricket for 22 years and 274 days, making her the longest-tenured player in men's and women's cricket. She was a right-handed batswoman who played for India between 1999 and 2022. She captained the side between 2004 and 2022. Mithali is the highest run getter in women’s international cricket with 7805 runs. She is considered to be one of the greatest female cricketers ever.

She holds numerous records in international cricket. No other woman has touched the 7,000 run mark in Women's One Day International matches except her. She holds the record of scoring seven consecutive 50s in ODIs and has most half-centuries in WODIs. In June 2018, she became the first woman cricketer to reach 2000 runs in women's Twenty20 Internationals and the first man to reach 2000 runs in T20Is during the 2018 Women's Twenty20 Asia Cup.

2. Sachin Tendulkar

   

At number two is Sachin Tendulkar, who lasted 22 years and 91 days, but he played more matches than Mithali. Tendulkar played 463 matches in his career, in which he broke almost every batting record.

He also captained the Indian national team and is considered to be the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. Sachin made his Test match debut on 15 November 1989 against Pakistan in Karachi at the age of sixteen, and went on to represent India for close to twenty-four years. In 2002, when he was halfway through his career, Wisden ranked him the second-greatest Test batsman of all time, only behind Don Bradman. He was also ranked as the second-greatest ODI batsman of all time, behind Viv Richards.Tendulkar was part of the Indian team that won the 2011 Cricket World Cup. That was his first win in six World Cup appearances for India.He had previously been named "Player of the Tournament" at the 2003 edition of the tournament.

3. Sanath Jayasuriya

   

As a veteran of Sri Lanka, Sanath Jayasuriya has played 445 international games, and he is at 3rd place in the last. Jayasuriya made his debut in 1989, and he retired in 2011, after a career spanning 21 years and 184 days. With his explosive batting with Romesh Kaluwitharana in the mid-1990s, he revolutionized one-day international cricket, introducing the hard-hitting strategy of all nations.

A great attacking batsman of all time, Jayasuriya earned a reputation for his powerful striking and match-winning all-round performances across all formats. In One Day International cricket, he is the only player to have scored more than 10,000 runs and taken more than 300 wickets. One of the best all-rounders in limited-overs cricket history, Jayasuriya set many world records.

His playing career ended in December 2007 when he retired from Test cricket, and by June 2011 after retiring from limited-overs cricket. He was also a key member of the team that won the 1996 Cricket World Cup and made the finals at both the 2007 Cricket World Cup and 2009 ICC World Twenty20. 

4. Javed Miandad

   

During his career, Javed Miandad played 233 matches for Pakistan in Tests and One-Day Internationals between 1975 and 1996. This was the end of a 20-year and 272-day career for the Pakistani cricketer. As a result of his impressive control and unique technique, Miandad received praise from cricket historians and contemporaries alike. ESPN Legends of Cricket ranked him 44th among all time cricketers. He was the captain of the Pakistani team for many years. In the 1992 ICC World Cup, he contributed the most with the bat. He won an international game for the first time when 4 runs were required to win in 1986 at Sharjah with a big six, which marked the first time a game was won in that fashion.

5. Charlotte Edwards

   

During her 20-year international career, Charlotte Edwards became captain of the England women's team. She retired from international cricket in May 2016. On her debut, she was England's youngest cricketer, breaking a world scoring record before the age of 18, one of many firsts she achieved during her international career. From 2005 to 2010, she led the England team to winning the Ashes series, the one-day world championship, and the Twenty20 world championship.