Zimbabwe's Brendan Taylor creates history, joins Sachin Tendulkar in elite list with his appearance against Sri Lanka in 1st ODI
The veteran Zimbabwe cricketer has now become the player with the third-longest ODI career in the history of the game
Veteran Zimbabwe batter Brendan Taylor made his first ODI appearance in four years during the match against Sri Lanka on Friday. The 39-year-old, who recently completed his three-and-a-half year ban given to him by ICC on the grounds of corruption, made his ODI debut back in 2004.
Notably, Taylor recently became the cricketer with the longest Test career among those who made their debut in the 21st century. He made his comeback to the Test side for the first time since 2021 and featured in Zimbabwe's recent red-ball encounter against New Zealand contested earlier in August.
With his appearance against Sri Lanka in the first ODI, Taylor became the cricketer with the third-longest one-day career among those who have debuted in the 21st century. He jumped three places on the list, surpassing his teammate Sean Williams, West Indies' Chris Gayle and Pakistan's Javed Miandad.
Here is the list of players with the longest ODI careers among those who debuted in the 21st century -
1. Sachin Tendulkar (India) - 22 years, 91 days
2. Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka) - 21 years, 184 days
3. Brendan Taylor (Zimbabwe) - 21 years, 132 days
4. Javed Miandad (Pakistan) - 20 years, 272 days
5. Chris Gayle (West Indies) - 19 years, 337 days
6. Sean Williams (Zimbabwe) - 19 years, 300 days
Looking at his fitness, Taylor can very well go on to surpass both Tendulkar and Jayasuriya on the list and break the unique record in the future. With Zimbabwe being one of the co-hosts for the 2027 ODI World Cup, the 39-year-old will definitely be looking to feature in the tournament.
Taylor is nothing short of a legend for Zimbabwe in the one-day format. He has so far played 205 ODI matches, scoring a total of 6684 runs for the side. He has 39 half-centuries and 11 hundreds under his name so far in the format alongwith a great average of 35.55. Notably, he is just 102 runs away from surpassing Andy Flower and becoming Zimbabwe's highest run-getter in one-day cricket.
