Player of the Match awards (cricket)


In sport of cricket, a Man of the Match or Player of the Match and Player of the Series award is given to the outstanding player, almost always the one who makes the most impact, in a particular match or series. The term was originally used more often in cricket before being adopted by other sports. This can be a player from either team, usually the winning team.
In cricket, the man of the match award became a regular feature in Test matches in the mid 1980s. The man of the match title is usually awarded to the player whose contribution is seen as the most critical in winning the game. However, there have been many instances when the performance of the losing team's player has earned him the award.
In Test matches, Jacques Kallis holds the record for the highest number of awards won, with 23 in 166 matches played, which is then followed by Muttiah Muralitharan with 19 awards.
In ODI Sachin Tendulkar holds the record for the highest number of man of the match titles, with 62 awards in 463 matches played.
In Twenty20 Internationals,Virat Kohli with 13 awards, followed by Mohammed Nabiwith 12 awards.

Test cricket

Most Player-of-the-Match awards

Most Player-of-the-Series awards

One Day International cricket

Most Player-of-the-Match awards

Most Player-of-the-Series awards

Twenty20 International cricket

Most Player-of-the-Match awards

Most Player-of-the-Series awards

All formats

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

Most Player-of-the-Match awards

Most Player-of-the-Series awards

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

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 and Tamim Iqbal 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.
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.

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.
#MatchVenueDateMoM 1MoM 2Result
1India v Sri LankaNagpur27 December 1986 Dilip Vengsarkar Maninder Singh won
2New Zealand v West IndiesChristchurch12 March 1987 Richard Hadlee Ewen Chatfield won
3New Zealand v Sri LankaHamilton22 February 1991 Ian Smith Andrew JonesDrawn
4New Zealand v AustraliaAuckland12 March 1993 Ken Rutherford Danny Morrison won
5New Zealand v PakistanChristchurch24 February 1994 Shane Thomson Bryan Young won
6Zimbabwe v PakistanHarare31 January 1995 Andy Flower Grant Flower won
7England v South AfricaJohannesburg30 November 1995 Jack Russell Mike AthertonDrawn
8Australia v South AfricaJohannesburg28 February 1997 Steve Waugh Greg Blewett won
9South Africa v ZimbabweHarare11 November 1999 Shaun Pollock Mark Boucher won
10South Africa v ZimbabweBloemfontein17 November 2000 Jacques Kallis Makhaya Ntini won
11Australia v South AfricaSydney2 January 2002 Justin Langer Matthew Hayden won
12South Africa v EnglandLondon31 January 2003 Makhaya Ntini Graeme Smith won
13Pakistan v South AfricaLahore17 October 2003 Taufeeq Umar Danish Kaneria won
14South Africa v EnglandJohannesburg14 January 2010 Dale Steyn Morne Morkel 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.
#MatchVenueDateMoM 1MoM 2Result
1Pakistan v West IndiesPort of Spain4 March 1977 Wasim Raja Colin Croft won
2New Zealand v IndiaWellington21 February 1981 Geoff Howarth Sandeep Patil won
3New Zealand v IndiaAuckland13 March 1981 John Wright Ravi ShastriDrawn
4England v West IndiesLondon28 June 1984 Ian Botham Gordon Greenidge won
5West Indies v New ZealandPort of Spain29 March 1985 Vivian Richards Ewen ChatfieldDrawn
6India v AustraliaChepauk18 September 1986 Kapil Dev Dean JonesTied
7Pakistan v IndiaChepauk3 February 1987 Imran Khan Kris SrikkanthDrawn
8England v Sri LankaLondon25 August 1988 Phil Newport Ravi Ratnayeke won
9Australia v PakistanFaisalabad23 September 1988 Allan Border Ijaz AhmedDrawn
10West Indies v AustraliaKingston1 March 1991 Gus Logie David BoonDrawn
11England v Sri LankaLondon22 August 1991 Alec Stewart Ravi Ratnayeke won
12West Indies v South AfricaBridgetown18 April 1992 Curtly Ambrose Andrew Hudson won
13England v New ZealandAuckland24 January 1997 Alec Stewart Nathan AstleDrawn
14West Indies v IndiaGeorgetown17 April 1997 Shiv Chanderpaul Rahul DravidDrawn
15South Africa v PakistanJohannesburg14 February 1998 Pat Symcox Azhar MahmoodDrawn
16Pakistan v IndiaKolkata16 February 1999 Saeed Anwar Javagal Srinath won
17Sri Lanka v AustraliaKandy9 September 1999 Aravinda de Silva Ricky Ponting won
18Zimbabwe v Sri LankaHarare4 December 1999 Andy Flower Russell ArnoldDrawn
19England v South AfricaDurban26 December 1999 Andy Caddick Gary KirstenDrawn
20Sri Lanka v South AfricaKandy30 July 2000 Arjuna Ranatunga Lance Klusener won
21India v AustraliaChepauk18 March 2001 Harbhajan Singh Matthew Hayden won
22Sri Lanka v BangladeshColombo6 September 2001 Muttiah Muralitharan Mohammad Ashraful won
23Sri Lanka v West IndiesColombo29 November 2001 Chaminda Vaas Brian Lara won
24South Africa v PakistanFaisalabad24 October 2003 Gary Kirsten Taufeeq UmarDrawn
25Sri Lanka v PakistanColombo12 July 2009 Nuwan Kulasekara Fawad Alam won
26Pakistan v AustraliaLondon13 July 2010 Salman Butt Simon Katich 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.
#MatchVenueDateMoM 1MoM 2MoM 3Result
1New Zealand v Sri LankaHamilton4 March 1977 Ian Smith Andrew Jones Asanka GurusinhaDrawn

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.
#MatchVenueDateMoMResult
1South Africa v New ZealandJohannesburg8 December 2000Chris Scott and his crewDrawn

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.
#MatchVenueDateMoM 1MoM 2Result
1New Zealand v AustraliaDunedin19 March 1986 Martin Crowe Richard Hadlee won
2New Zealand v AustraliaWellington26 March 1986 Wayne Phillips Steve Waugh won
3India v New ZealandNagpur31 October 1987 Sunil Gavaskar Chetan Sharma won
4Australia v IndiaSydney20 January 1992 David Boon Geoff Marsh won
5Pakistan v AustraliaPort Elizabeth13 December 1994 Aqib Javed Waqar Younis won
6Australia v Sri LankaSydney20 January 1996 Mark Taylor Shane Warne won
7India v ZimbabweCenturion7 February 1997 Craig Evans Paul Strang won
8New Zealand v EnglandAuckland2 March 1997 Nathan Astle Gavin Larsen won
9Pakistan v IndiaSharjah26 March 2000 Inzamam-ul-Haq Waqar Younis won
10New Zealand v Sri LankaSharjah17 April 2001 Kyle Mills Mathew Sinclair won
11Pakistan v New ZealandRawalpindi7 December 2003 Yasir Hameed Imran Farhat won
12South Africa v New ZealandPort Elizabeth30 November 2007 Jamie How Brendon McCullum won
13South Africa v PakistanJohannesburg17 March 2013 Hashim Amla AB de Villiers won
14New Zealand v Sri LankaDunedin23 January 2015 Luke Ronchi Grant Elliott won
15New Zealand v ZimbabweHarare4 August 2015 Martin Guptill Tom Latham won
16Zimbabwe v AfghanistanHarare21 February 2017 Tendai Chatara Sean Williams won
17Afghanistan v IrelandGreater Noida10 March 2017 Najeeb Tarakai Rashid Khan won
18South Africa v AustraliaBloemfontein4 March 2020 Lungi Ngidi Janneman Malan won

Until 2018, there have been 14 instances where one player from each team was given the Man of the Match award in ODI cricket.
#MatchVenueDateMoM 1MoM 2Result
1Australia v EnglandMelbourne1 January 1975 Ian Chappell Dennis Amiss won
2India v EnglandPune5 December 1984 Dilip Vengsarkar Mike Gatting won
3Australia v West IndiesSydney12 February 1985 Allan Border Michael Holding won
4India v South AfricaKolkata10 November 1991 Sachin Tendulkar Allan Donald won
5Zimbabwe v PakistanHarare22 February 1995 Bryan Strang Saeed AnwarTied
6Zimbabwe v EnglandHarare1 January 1997 Paul Strang John Crawley won
7South Africa v IndiaEast London4 February 1997 Gary Kirsten Saurav Ganguly won
8West Indies v AustraliaGeorgetown21 April 1999 Mervyn Dillon Steve WaughTied
9South Africa v AustraliaJohannesburg12 March 2006 Herschelle Gibbs Ricky Ponting won
10South Africa v Sri LankaGeorgetown28 March 2007 Charl Langeveldt Lasith Malinga won
11Zimbabwe v BangladeshBulawayo16 August 2009 Charles Coventry Tamim Iqbal won
12England v IndiaLondon11 September 2011 Ravi Bopara Suresh RainaTied
13West Indies v PakistanGros Islet19 July 2013 Lendl Simmons Misbah-ul-HaqTied
14Zimbabwe v AfghanistanBulawayo24 October 2015 Sean Williams Dawlat Zadran won