Stats: Most career runs made by players at each batting position in Test cricket

Daniel Vettori is the highest Test run-getter at No. 8 and No.9

It is often said that cricket is a batsman’s game and rightly so – many players have proved that statement by scoring tons of runs, breaking records and creating milestones for their respective countries in their careers. Some batsmen build their identities on fixed batting positions – like we only remember Sachin as a no.4 batsman for India in Tests, and Sunil Gavaskar as an opener, or say Kumar Sangakkara as a no.3 batsman for Sri Lanka.

Many players have taken their batting position to the next level by amassing an unimaginable amount of runs from their specific spot in the order, to have set standards for that particular batting position for upcoming generations’ batsmen.

For example, now Indian fans want to see Virat Kohli to bat like Sachin Tendulkar at no.4 for India in Tests. This is because Sachin has increased the value and importance of that position by scoring his most number of career runs at that batting position.

All batting positions in cricket are important and all the players batting at those positions have their own roles to play by.

Let’s take a look at most number of runs scored by players at each batting position in Test cricket.

Position	Player Name	Country	Innings	Runs	Average
Opener (1&2)	Sunil Gavaskar	India	203	9607	50.30
3	Kumar Sangakkara	Sri Lanka	219	10524	60.83
4	Sachin Tendulkar	India	275	13492	54.40
5	Shiv Chanderpaul	West Indies	151	6883	56.42
6	Steve Waugh	Australia	79	3165	51.05
7	Adam Gilchrist	Australia	100	3948	46.45
8	Daniel Vettori	New Zealand	67	2227	39.77
9	Daniel Vettori	New Zealand	53	1105	23.51
10	Waqar Younis	Pakistan	48	496	11.81
11	M Muralitharan	Sri Lanka	99	623	11.33