Virender Sehwag – ODI & Test Centuries Lists (by Teams, Year, Venue, & Countries)

Virender Sehwag was an enigma on the cricket field during his playing days for the Indian cricket team.

Making his debut for India in ODI against Pakistan in 1999, Sehwag quickly went on to become an integral part of the Indian ODI and Test teams in the years to come. He played a significant role in many of India’s victories across formats, both home and away.

Sehwag used to give India blistering starts in the ODIs and Tests, and that is one of the reasons why India became a force to be reckoned with in the longest format of the game, particularly while playing in the subcontinent.

He more often gave India a flying start, which enabled other batters to take their own time and play a big knock. This template worked for India in the mid-to-late 2000s and the early part of the 2010s.

Overall, he was a complete match-winner on his day and when he was in the mood, Sehwag made sure to take the game away from the opposition.

He was an aggressive player by nature, and one would wonder how well he would fare in Tests as his style of play was more compatible with the shorter formats of the game.

But on the contrary, Sehwag found success in Tests more than he ever did in ODIs or T20Is. Though he had a decent ODI career, it was in Tests that he proved to be a match-winner.

In fact, Sehwag was the 3rd fastest in Test history to amass 6000 runs and the 6th fastest to cross the 7000-run milestone in Tests.

In his playing career that spanned over 14 years, Sehwag amassed a staggering 17253 runs across formats in international cricket at an average of just over 40 in 443 innings.

The former batsman hammered 38 international centuries in all (23 in Tests and 15 in ODIs) during his stupendous career.

This article will list Virender Sehwags centuries in ODI, and Test cricket. Let us dwell deep into each of his 38 centuries.

Sehwag had scored 23 Test centuries, and 15 ODI centuries – 38 in total.

List of Virender Sehwag Test Centuries

No.	Score	Versus	Balls Faced	4/6	Innings	Venue	Year	Match Result
1	105	South Africa	173	19/0	1	Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein	2001	Lost
2	106	England	183	18/0	1	Trent Bridge, Nottingham	2002	Drawn
3	147	West Indies	206	24/3	1	Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai	2002	Won
4	130	New Zealand	225	16/2	2	Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali	2003	Drawn
5	195	Australia	233	25/5	1	Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne	2003	Lost
6	309	Pakistan	375	39/6	1	Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan	2004	Won
7	155	Australia	221	21/0	2	MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai	2004	Drawn
8	164	South Africa	228	24/2	2	Green Park, Kanpur	2004	Drawn
9	173	Pakistan	244	19/2	2	Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali	2005	Drawn
10	201	Pakistan	262	28/2	2	M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru	2005	Lost
11	254	Pakistan	247	47/1	2	Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore	2006	Drawn
12	180	West Indies	190	20/2	1	Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia	2006	Drawn
13	151	Australia	236	11/2	3	Adelaide Oval, Adelaide	2008	Drawn
14	319	South Africa	304	42/5	2	MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai	2008	Drawn
15	201*	Sri Lanka	231	22/4	1	Galle International Stadium, Galle	2008	Won
16	131	Sri Lanka	122	18/2	1	Green Park, Kanpur	2009	Won
17	293	Sri Lanka	254	40/7	2	Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai	2009	Won
18	109	South Africa	139	15/0	2	Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur	2010	Lost
19	165	South Africa	174	23/2	2	Eden Gardens, Kolkata	2010	Won
20	109	Sri Lanka	118	19/1	2	Galle International Stadium, Galle	2010	Lost
21	109	Sri Lanka	105	19/0	2	P Sara Oval, Colombo	2010	Won
22	173	New Zealand	199	24/1	1	Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad	2010
23	117	England	117	15/1	1	Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad	2012	Won

Key insights from the above stats

2: The number of triple centuries hit by Virender Sehwag in his Test career. Only three others have hit two triple centuries in their Test careers, and they are Chris Gayle, Don Bradman, and Brian Lara. Lara converted one of the triple hundreds into a 400.

278: Virender Sehwag just took 278 balls to complete his second Test triple century. He did so against a strong South African attack in Chennai, where he smashed a sensational 319, which remains the highest-ever score by an Indian in Test cricket.

207: Virender Sehwag took just 207 balls to reach his 250 in a Test match against Sri Lanka in 2009 at Mumbai, and this remained the fastest ever in Test cricket to reach the milestone until Ben Stokes (197 balls) broke the same in 2016 against South Africa.

1: Innings that Virender Sehwag took to score his maiden Test century, and he became just the 11th Indian to score a Test match century on debut. He did so against South Africa at Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein.

5: The number of centuries the right-hander has hit against Sri Lanka and South Africa, his most against any team in Test cricket.

4: The number of centuries Sehwag has scored against the arch-rivals Pakistan in Test cricket. He made India’s first-ever triple century in Tests against Pakistan at Multan, and one can safely say that Pakistan is arguably his favourite opponent.

6: The number of Test double centuries Sehwag smashed in his glorious career, which comprised 104 matches. He has the second joint most number of 200s by an Indian in Test cricket, along with Sachin Tendulkar, and his tally is only surpassed by Virat Kohli.

Virender Sehwag has hit Test centuries in all countries he has played except New Zealand, Bangladesh, and Zimbabwe.

He truly had a sensational Test career, where he averaged 49.34 while scoring 8586 runs in 180 Test innings.

List of Virender Sehwag ODI Centuries

No.	Score	Versus	Balls Faced	4/6	Innings	Venue	Year	Match Result
1	100	New Zealand	70	19/1	2	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo	2001	Won
2	126	England	104	21/1	2	R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo	2002	Won
3	114*	West Indies	82	17/2	2	Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground, Rajkot	2002	Won
4	108	New Zealand	119	9/2	2	McLean Park, Napier	2002	Lost
5	112	New Zealand	139	11/3	2	Eden Park, Auckland	2003	Won
6	130	New Zealand	134	15/2	1	Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, Hyderabad	2003	Won
7	108	Pakistan	95	9/3	1	Nehru Stadium, Kochi	2005	Won
8	114	Bermuda	87	17/3	1	Queen’s Park Oval, Port-Of-Spain, Trinidad	2007	Won
9	119	Pakistan	95	12/5	2	National Stadium, Karachi	2008	Won
10	116	Sri Lanka	90	17/0	1	R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo	2009	Won
11	125*	New Zealand	74	14/6	2	Seddon Park, Hamilton	2009	Won
12	146	Sri Lanka	102	17/6	1	Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground, Rajkot	2009	Won
13	110	New Zealand	93	16/1	1	Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, Dambulla	2010	Won
14	175	Bangladesh	140	14/5	1	Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur	2011	Won
15	219	West Indies	149	25/7	1	Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore	2011	Won

Key insights from the above stats

219: Virender Sehwag became only the second Indian batter to score an ODI double century, the first being Sachin Tendulkar. This remains the highest ever by a captain in ODIs.

6: One-third of his ODI centuries came against New Zealand, and the Kiwis seem to be his favourite opponent in coloured clothing. 3 of those centuries came in New Zealand.

2: Sehwag has 2 world cup centuries, one in 2007 against Bermuda and the other in 2011 versus Bangladesh. The latter was also the year India won the World Cup.

2: Sehwag was as prolific against both Sri Lanka and Pakistan in ODIs as he was in Tests, hitting 2 centuries each.

Sehwag was known to be an aggressive player, and it is evident from the fact that most of his scores have been over with a strike rate of 100, and his career strike rate in 245 ODI innings is just under 105.

Virender Sehwag did play 19 T20Is for India but didn’t score a single century in the format for the country. But he played a role in India winning the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007.

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