5 Cricketers who played alongside most players in International Cricket

1. Shahid Afridi – 151 players

Shahid Afridi stands as the only player to have played alongside as many as 151 players in International cricket. Afridi played in 524 matches during his International career that spanned nearly 22 years. A total of 398 appearances came in the ODI format where he played alongside 122 players; the 3rd most behind Chris Gayle (128) and Sachin Tendulkar (123). Afridi featured in 27 Tests and 99 T20I matches as well.

The Pakistan all-rounder’s International career, in fact, came to an end with the 2016 WT20. By that time, he played along with 142 players; only one more than Sachin Tendulkar’s 141. However, in 2018, Afridi was invited to lead the ICC World XI against West Indies in a hurricane relief T20 match. The match carried T20I status as a result, Afridi played with nine players for the first time which increased his lead in this list.

Shoaib Malik was the only player who was Afridi’s teammate in International cricket before the match hosted by the Lord’s. This charity game was the 3rd instance of Afridi featuring in a match even after announcing retirement. Shahid Afridi played two ODIs for World XI and three ODIs for Asia XI in 2005 where he got to play with 17 players from the countries other than Pakistan.