Experienced Zimbabwean wicketkeeper-batter Brendan Taylor has surpassed Sachin Tendulkar to become the player with the longest career in ODI cricket.
Brendan Taylor featured in the first ODI against Australia at Harare Sports Club on Tuesday and broke Sachin Tendulkar’s long-standing record to become the player with the longest career in men’s One-Day International cricket.
Brendan Taylor, who made his ODI debut in 2004, now has an international career spanning 22 years and 148 days, while Sachin Tendulkar’s remarkable ODI career lasted 22 years and 91 days, from 1989 to 2012.
Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya is third on the list, with an ODI career spanning 21 years and 184 days from 1989 to 2011.
Pakistan’s legendary batter Javed Miandad is fourth on the list, with an ODI career lasting 20 years and 272 days, from 1975 to 1996.
Taylor has played as a captain for Zimbabwe across all three formats and was one of the team’s key performers at the 2015 ODI World Cup, where he scored two centuries, including one against eventual champions India.
His career reflects several dramatic twists. Taylor initially declined from international cricket after the 2015 World Cup to take up a three-year Kolpak deal with English county side Nottinghamshire. He later resumed his career before announcing his international retirement in 2021.
However, his retirement did not bring an end to his career of international cricket. Taylor later revealed that he had been approached by people attempting to corrupt him in 2019. According to Taylor, he was offered cocaine and subsequently blackmailed after not reporting the matter to the International Cricket Council (ICC) timely.
Consequently, the incident resulted in the ICC imposing a three-and-a-half-year ban on Taylor in 2022 for breaches of its Anti-Corruption and Anti-Doping codes.
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