Most Man of the Series awards in Tests 

Man of the Series award is one of the most appreciated awards in Test cricket. It shows how consistently a player can perform over a period of time. Thus, it is obvious to expect great players like Sachin Tendulkar to be somewhere at the top of the list.

But the game of numbers is not so easy. He is not even in the top-10. The legendary spinner from Sri Lanka, Muttiah Muralitharan tops the list with 11 Man of the Series awards from 61 series he played. That is quite astonishing, isn’t it? Honestly, he deserves to be there for taking record 800 wickets.

Not to the surprise, J Kallis of South Africa, one of the greatest all-rounders of all time, sits comfortably at the second position with nine awards in a career spanning around 18 years.

From India’s point of view, Ravi Ashwin tops the list with seven awards followed by Virender Sehwag with five awards. Ashwin's record is quite commendable as he has won these seven Man of the Series awards from 23 Test series only with an astonishing win percentage of 30.43%. The importance of this percentage can be gauged accurately when it is compared with that of the others. This win percentage for the man at the top, Muralitharan is around 18% only.

Most Man of the Series awards in Tests

Out of these 21 players, only four players are currently active - Ashwin, Steyn, Herath and Anderson. And three of them except Ashwin are on the verge of retirement. So, Ashwin who at the moment is of just 32 years has a very good chance to beat all of these legends in the list and occupy the top position. However, considering the fierce competition for the spinner's place in the Indian team, it will not be that easy for Ashwin to achieve this feat.

The most surprising element is that Sachin Tendulkar, the God of Cricket is at the bottom of the table. He managed to win just five Man of the Series awards while scoring 15,921 runs in Tests. What makes it more interesting is that he played more Test series than all the other players on the list, 13 more than Muralitharan who is at the top of the list. And his win percentage is just around 6.75, way less than the other legends.

One of the most important reasons for this can be the presence of many legends in the Indian Cricket team. Sachin played with the players like Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag, Ganguly, Kumble, Harbhajan Singh for the most part of his career. At the same time, Muralitharan did not have to face such fierce competition in the Sri Lankan team

But whatever the numbers say, his contribution to this amazing game of cricket is immense and hence will always be regarded as one of the greatest cricketers.

*Stats updated till 17 October 2018