Top 5 players with most international runs in cricket across all formats

Cricket has been played by so many great players and more specifically so many great batsmen. There have been batsmen who have scored runs in one format but failed in another. Only few have been successful across all formats and performed well. In this list, we will look at the top 5 players with the most international runs in cricket across all formats.

Sadly, many legends and great players have missed out on this. Yet, the ones who have been able to achieve this feat of being in the top 5 players with most runs across all formats are truly legends of the game and something that cannot be denied. You could have liked these players or hated these players but surely you couldn’t have ignored these great players.

All the data has been taken from www.stats.espncricinfo.com.

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Before we look at the top 5 players, it is important to make a special mention here for two players.

Brian Lara

Brian Lara: Lara could have easily been in the top 5 and is only in 7th position because of having played much fewer matches and innings. Lara scored 22358 runs in 430 matches or 521 innings at an average of 46.28. Lara also holds the record for scoring the highest individual score 400 not out.

Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid: The sixth highest scorer who narrowly misses our list is Rahul Dravid. One of the humblest persons to have played the game, also known as The Wall, has scored 24208 runs in 509 matches or 605 innings at a career average of 45.41.

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#5. Jacques Kallis (South Africa) (25534 Runs)

Kallis is considered to be one of the best all-rounders of all time in cricket.

Arguably the best all-rounder to have played cricket, Jacques Kallis comes fifth in our list of the most international runs scored.

Kallis was born in 1975 and started his career in 1995. He went on to play till 2014, having played the game for 19 years.

Stats: Over the course of his 19-year career, Kallis played a total of 519 matches and 617 innings. He went on to score 25534 international runs at an astonishing average of 49.10 and strike rate of 56.30.

#4. Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka) (25957 Runs)

Jayawardene was a crucial player for Sri Lanka.

For long, Jayawardene had been handling Sri Lanka’s middle order on his own. Jayawardene was a silent killer, you wouldn’t even realize when this guy would start scoring and take away the match from your team.

A fan favourite, Jayawardene was born in 1977 and made his debut for Sri Lanka in 1997. He went on to play till 2015, a career lasting 18 years.

Stats: Jayawardene played in 652 matches over his 18-year long career. He scored 25957 runs at a mediocre average of 39.15 in 725 innings. Further, he had a career strike rate of 64.73.

#3. Ricky Ponting (Australia) (27483 Runs)

Ponting is also a world cup winning captain.

Ricky Ponting is one of the most formidable batsmen to have played the game. The World Cup winning captain is also as per statistics the best captain in cricket till date. Ponting was the captain of a very strong Australian side that went on to dominate cricket for quite some time. It remains one of the strongest and feared teams in cricketing history.

Ponting who was born in 1974 started his career with Australia in 1995 (the same time as Kallis did with South Africa). He retired in 2012 having played for 17 years.

Stats: Ponting has scored 27483 international runs in 560 matches and 668 innings. While doing so, he has had a career average of 45.95 and strike rate of 68.48.

#2. Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) (28016 Runs)

Sangakkara narrowly missed out on a world cup after Sri Lanka lost to India in the 2011 world cup final.

This may come as a bit of a surprise. Sangakkara is the second highest runs scorer in the history of cricket. He is perhaps one of the most underrated and underappreciated player having played cricket. Sangakkara was also the captain of the team that lost to India in the 2011 world cup final.

Sangakkara was born in 1977 and made his debut in 2000. He is the only player in this list to start his career in the 21st century. He also has had the shortest career, 15 years, having retired in 2015.

Stats: Having started his career a little late, Sangakkara has played in 594 matches. In a total of 666 innings he has scored 28016 runs at an average of 46.77 and strike rate of 66.56.

#1. Sachin Tendulkar (India) (34357 Runs)

Tendulkar has scored the most runs in the history of cricket.

No surprises here. Sachin Tendulkar is the most decorated player to have ever played the game. There are people who do not know about cricket but know about Sachin Tendulkar.

Tendulkar was born in 1973 and made his debut in 1989 at the young age of 16. He has had a 24-year long career at the top, having retired only in 2013.

Stats: Tendulkar has scored 34357 international runs in 664 matches and 782 innings. He has had an average of 48.52 and strike rate of 67.58.

Surely, Tendulkar is one of the greatest players to have played the game.