Stats: Active players with the most Man of the Match awards in ODI's
AB De Villiers picked up his 23rd ODI Man of the Match award against New Zealand in the 3rd and final match of the ODI series yesterday. The Proteas skipper’s knock of 64 from 48 balls proved crucial as the hosts won the match by 62 runs thereby clinching the series 2-1.
In the process, De Villiers became the fastest to reach 8000 ODI runs. Playing in his 182nd innings, he bettered previous record holder Sourav Ganguly by 18 innings. He is fast catching up with Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh and Sri-Lankan opening batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan who are the only players ahead of the 31-year-old when it comes to the Man of the Match awards. Yuvraj tops the list with 25 MoM awards from 293 while Dilshan has one less from 319 matches.
With plenty of years of cricket still ahead of him, De Villiers is sure to eclipse the pair soon having joined fellow swashbuckling batsmen Virender Sehwag and Chris Gayle at 23 MoM awards, though he does face tough competition from Indian batsman Virat Kohli and his Proteas teammate and T20 skipper Hashim Amla.
Amla, who has 17 Man of the Match awards in just 121 games is the most prolific among the Top 10 with a MoM awards to matches played ratio of 0.14. India has the biggest representation with as many as four players in the Top 10. Yuvraj and Kohli are joined by Virender Sehwag and Indian skipper MS Dhoni.
Sachin Tendulkar is head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to the record for most number of MoM awards having bagged it 62 times. His nearest competitors are Sanath Jayasuriya with 48 and then Jacques Kallis with 32 MoM awards.
Most MoM awards among active players
| No | Player | Matches | MoM awards | Ratio |
| 1 | Yuvraj Singh | 293 | 25 | 0.085 |
| 2 | Tillekaratne Dilshan | 319 | 24 | 0.075 |
| 3 | AB De Villiers | 190 | 23 | 0.121 |
| 4 | Virender Sehwag | 251 | 23 | 0.091 |
| 5 | Chris Gayle | 269 | 23 | 0.086 |
| 6 | Virat Kohli | 161 | 20 | 0.124 |
| 7 | MS Dhoni | 265 | 19 | 0.071 |
| 8 | Hashim Amla | 121 | 17 | 0.14 |
| 9 | Shane Watson | 187 | 17 | 0.091 |
| 10 | Shoaib Malik | 224 | 16 | 0.071 |