Youngest or oldest for longest in ODIs

Tendulkar's run in Tests as India's youngest cricketer continued until 1999, nearly 10 years after his debut. In ODIs, though, it ended in 1997, when he was 24. During that time Tendulkar played 159 one-dayers and scored 5540 runs at an average of 39.29, which is among the 10 best averages for a team's youngest player.

In last week's List, we dug up players who were the youngest or oldest in their team for the most Tests. This week we've done the same for one-day internationals. While Sachin Tendulkar, who played 48 Tests as the baby of the team, also played the most ODIs as the youngest, it isn't Alec Stewart, with 85 Test caps as England's oldest, who holds pride of place in one-dayers. Sanath Jayasuriya does, and he could still add to his 208 matches as the oldest player in the Sri Lankan team.

It's hard to predict who might play more than Tendulkar's 159 games, and perhaps no one will, given that India played an absurdly high number of ODIs in the 1990s. None of the players in the table below are their team's youngest anymore, and among the emerging crop, the closest to Tendulkar is Ravindra Jadeja, who has played a mere 32 games. He's not a permanent fixture in India's one-day team, though, but there's no one younger pushing for selection at the moment. Virat Kohli is older than Jadeja by 31 days. Tim Southee, 21, has been New Zealand's youngest player for 31 matches but he won't be for much longer with the emergence of 20-year-old Kane Williamson, who didn't play against Bangladesh on Tuesday but is certainly part of New Zealand's future plans. The likelier candidates are Wayne Parnell, if he can play another 148 ODIs before South Africa select someone younger, and 18-year-old Mohammad Amir, whose future is uncertain after 15 matches. George Dockrell, an 18-year-old left-arm spinner, has an outside chance if England decide they want a second Irishman in their set-up.