Most runs in a calendar year by Indian batsmen

#6 Sachin Tendulkar - 2541 runs in 1998

Sachin still holds the record for most ODI runs in a calendar year from 1998

It may come as a shock to the readers but Sachin Tendulkar’s only entry in the top ten for Indian batsmen with most runs in a calendar year is in the sixth position!

The master blaster holds numerous batting records internationally and for India but this is one record that eluded him. He held the record for a year but it was broken in 1999 by two Indian superstars.

Almost 75% of Sachin’s runs scored in 1998 came in ODIs. He scored 1894 runs in 33 ODI innings in 1998 and it is still the record for most runs scored by any batsman in ODIs in a calendar year. When Sachin set the record, he beat his own record of 1611 runs in ODIs in 1996.

What’s mindblowing is the fact that he had an average of 65.31 in ODIs that year with a strike rate of 102.15!

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#5 Sourav Ganguly - 2580 runs in 1999

Ganguly's highest ODI score of 183 came in 1999

The first player to break Sachin’s tally of 2541 runs in 1998 was Sourav Ganguly. What’s interesting is the fact that like Sachin, Ganguly also scored the bulk of his runs in 1999 in ODIs.

He scored 1767 runs in ODIs that year at an average of 46.50 in 41 innings. The fact that Ganguly played eight innings more than Sachin played in 1998 and still fell short of his tally by 127 runs shows how truly outstanding Sachin’s performance was in 1998 but that doesn’t make Ganguly’s record any less significant.

His tally is still the second highest by any player in ODIs in a calendar year and he also scored his personal best 183 in fifty overs cricket in the same year against Sri Lanka at the 1999 World Cup.

Also, Ganguly’s tally in all formats for the year 1999 is currently the eleventh highest in a calendar year by any batsman.