Zimbabwe veteran Brendan Taylor has overtaken Sachin Tendulkar to hold the record for the longest career in men’s ODI cricket.
Taylor reached the milestone when he played against Australia in the first ODI of their three match series in Harare on Tuesday. Zimbabwe lost the match by 59 runs, but Taylor’s milestone marked a special moment in his career.
His ODI career now spans 22 years and 148 days. Tendulkar held the previous record with a career spanning 22 years and 91 days.
Former Sri Lanka batter Sanath Jayasuriya sits third on the list. His ODI career lasted 21 years and 184 days.
Taylor made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka on April 20, 2004. More than 22 years later, the Zimbabwe batter is still representing his country at the highest level.
The 40 year old has been one of Zimbabwe’s leading batters for much of his career. Before the match against Australia, Taylor had scored 6,704 runs in 207 ODIs. He had also hit 11 centuries, the most by a Zimbabwe batter in the format.
Tendulkar may have lost the longevity record, but several of his major ODI records remain untouched.
The India great scored 18,426 ODI runs, the most by any player. He also played 463 matches, another record in the format.
Taylor’s career had taken an unusual path. He retired from international cricket in 2021. In 2022, he revealed that he had delayed reporting a corrupt approach made to him in 2019.
The International Cricket Council later banned him from all cricket for three and a half years. Taylor maintained that he had never fixed a match.
After completing his ban, Taylor returned to international cricket in 2025. His comeback came as Zimbabwe began building towards the 2027 ODI World Cup in southern Africa.
