Highest Run Scorers in Tests for Each Country

Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties and nothing is a better example of this than Test Cricket. Batting in Test matches requires the utmost discipline and excellent technique. Players play extremely long innings with a never ending thirst for runs. Some of them make historyWe bring to you the players who made the most runs for their countries:

#10 Tamim Iqbal - Bangladesh

Tamim Iqbal

Only the second Bangladeshi player to score 3000+ runs in Test Cricket he is the highest run-getter in the format for this small nation. He is regarded as one of the hardest hitters of the ball in the country and has played a huge role in Bangladesh’s historic win over West Indies.

He was also the first Bangladeshi player to score a double century. Since his debut in 2008 he has only played 42 Test matches making 3118 runs with an average of nearly 40. Only 26 years old, this left-handed batsman has a lot to give to the Bangladeshi team and will possibly make more unprecedented records.

#9 Andy Flower - Zimbabwe

Andy Flower

A promising career was cut short due to petty politics when Andy Flower, along with teammate Henry Olonga, wore black armbands during the 2003 World Cup to protest against human rights conditions in Zimbabwe. But as is more often the case, Zimbabwe’s loss was England’s gain as he started playing county cricket for them.

Making his debut in 1992 against India and playing his last match against another team from the sub-continent, Pakistan, he amassed 4794 runs for his team. He is considered to be one of the best wicketkeeper-batsmen in the world.

He has coached England to three Ashes triumphs and the World No. 1 but is more famously known for his tiff with Kevin Pietersen. After being replaced by Andrew Strauss as the team director, he now coaches at Stratford-upon-Avon Cricket Club.

#8 Stephen Fleming - New Zealand

Stephen Fleming

He is New Zealand’s second most capped Test player, the longest-serving and the most successful Test captain. He is the only Black Caps player to cross 7,000 runs in Test Cricket.

He was always under the radar for his poor conversion ratio, he has 9 centuries and 46 fifties to his name. But he silenced the critics when he made a 274 against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka, declaring before his 300. There is a reason he has been called the best captain in world cricket by Shane Warne and Graeme Swann.

Making his debut against India in 1994, he made 7172 runs in a career spanning 15 years before he decided to quit in 2007. The next closest New Zealander Brendon McCullum is more than a 1000 runs behind and Fleming's record looks safe for now.

#7 Younis Khan - Pakistan

Younis Khan

When Younis Khan lofted Moeen Ali over midwicket for a six in the ongoing Pakistan-England Test match, he wasn’t just toying with New England’s confidence but making history. With that six he went past Javed Miandad’s tally of 8832 runs to become Pakistan’s leading run-scorer in Tests.

He is the man the team looks up to in times of adversity and his stats prove that. Among the batsmen who have more than 1000 runs in fourth innings chases he has the highest average.

15 years since his debut against Sri Lanka he is still going strong. In the last 12 months he has averaged 80 with the bat for his team. In his words, “I believe in next the two years if I remain in the same mode I see myself bigger than this and would like to score 10,000 runs."

#6 Alastair Cook - England

Alastair Cook

“He's on target to go for Tendulkar's numbers, if you look at the numbers and look at his age." These were Kevin Pietersen’s words when everything was all right between him and his England team captain, Alastair Cook.

Cook is England’s leading run-scorer in Tests and became the youngest Englishman to reach 1,500, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 and 5,000 Test runs. He is also the youngest cricketer ever to reach 8000 runs. He is a player who puts a price on his wicket and can bat for a long time.

He made his debut against India in 2006, when he scored a half century and one century in the two innings. He crossed 9,000 runs this year and became the first English player to do so. With many years of cricket still left in him and the amount of Test Cricket England play, he probably can prove Pietersen right.

#5 Brian Lara - West Indies

Brian Lara

Popularly called “The Prince of Port of Spain” he is acknowledged as the best cricketers of all-time. Muttiah Muralitharan, the legendary Sri Lankan spinner, had hailed Brian Lara as his toughest opponent amongst all the batsmen in the world.

He holds the record of highest individual score in a Test innings when he scored 400* against England in 2004. He also made 501 in a first-class game between Warwickshire and Durham, making it the highest individual score in first-class cricket.

Making a debut against Pakistan in 1990 and played his last match against them in 2006. In the meantime, he amassed 11,953 runs with 34 centuries and 48 half centuries.

#4 Kumar Sangakkara - Sri Lanka

Kumar Sangakkara

Flat track bully. Exploiter of subcontinental conditions. This elegant batsman from the tiny island of Sri Lanka has been called many things. But you can only play in the conditions you are given and then emerge a legend.

He is the fastest to reach 8000, 9000, 11000, 12000 runs in terms of the number of innings. Also the joint fastest to 10,000 runs with Sachin Tendulkar. Making his debut in 2000 against South Africa and until his last Test in 2015 against India, he garnered 12,400 runs under his belt comprising of 38 centuries and 52 fifties.

He could have extended his career and made it to the elite club of 13,000 run scorers but as he humbly put, “I don’t want to extend my career for individual records. This is the time to go.” And saying that, he left.

#3 Jacques Kallis - South Africa

Jacques Kallis

This South African all-rounder is the only player in the history of the game to score 13000+ runs and take 250+ wickets. His super model girlfriends have made more news than the countless match saving innings he played for his team. He has been called very selfish by the media but his captain Pollock rubbished the claims and said, “Jacques just did his business, being the backbone of our batting line-up for a long period of time.”

He was not a flamboyant player but someone who slogged his team to hard earned draws. He averaged below 10 in his first five matches since his debut at Durban in 1995. On the same ground he played his final match against India in 2013 and became one of the few players to score a century in his final test. 13,289 runs and 292 wickets later, life had come full circle for him.

#2 Ricky Ponting - Australia

Ricky Ponting

The 42nd Test Captain of Australia, he is the most successful captain in the history of Test Cricket with 48 wins in 77 Tests. The only player to be involved in 108 Tests victories. Fun Fact: he has played 168 Tests in all. So, if Ponting was in your team there was a nearly 65% chance that the team would win.

He is known for his aggression on the field. This was testified by Graeme Smith, the South African captain, when he described Ricky Ponting as the toughest competitor he faced. An aggressive right handed batsman, he amassed 13,378 runs since his debut in 1995 against Sri Lanka. His final match was against South Africa in 2012, when he decided to call it quits with a phenomenal average of 51.85.

#1 Sachin Tendulkar - India

Sachin Tendulkar

There is a popular saying – if cricket is a religion in India then Tendulkar is the God. Carrying the burden of a cricket-obsessed nation, he made and broke records like no player before him. The only player to have scored one hundred international centuries, the player with the highest number of centuries in Tests and also holds the record of playing the highest number of Test matches.

He made his debut against Pakistan at the age of 16 in Karachi. An era came to an end when he played his final match at his home ground in Wankhede at Mumbai against West Indies.

His tally of 15,921 in Tests is the highest for any International player which probably won't be broken anytime soon, considering the fact that next highest run getter is more than 2500 runs away from him.