These Men Have More Runs Than Anybody In International Cricket

If Sachin Tendulkar had not been born, we’d probably be celebrating Dravid as India’s greatest batsman. The master technician once had the toughest defense in the world. But in 1999, he opened up his game to become a prolific ODI scorer as well. Dravid played 509 international games, making 24,208 runs with 48 tons and 146 fifties. He finished the second highest Test scorer the day he retired. His tally of 13,288 would be marginally bettered by Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting.

As an 18-year-old Tendulkar smashed an experienced Australian attack in 1991-92, Merv Hughes is said to have turned to his captain and said, “AB, this little prick will end up with more runs than you.” AB was of course Allan Border, who finished playing in 1993 with a 17,698 runs—a number that seemed unbeatable at the time. And then, Tendulkar took over. It was in 2001 that Tendulkar took the record from Border during an innings of 146 against Kenya in Paarl. From there, he took the bar for high-scoring to such heights that may not be seen again. He became the first man to score 20,000, 25,000 and 30,000 runs in international cricket. In 2013, he finished with 34,357 runs in 664 games for his country. Famously, he also made 100 hundreds to go with his 164 fifties, feats unlikely to repeat themselves in a hurry.

There was a period of invincibility in Ponting’s career when it seemed the Australian would break every batting record there is. In his 560 games, Punter made 27,483 runs all over the world, against every kind of attack on every kind of wicket. His batting style—ruthless, combative, authoritative—lent itself to the brand of cricket Australia played, rising to become possibly the deadliest cricket team that has ever assembled. Ponting also has 71 hundreds in international cricket along with 146 fifties. But a slump late in Ponting’s career would end his chances of becoming the No. 1 item on this list.

Is Kumar Sangakkara the greatest Sri Lanka batsman ever? Nobody—not even the great Mahela and Aravinda de Silva—have scored as consistently heavily and around the world as this left-hander. And that makes his feat all the more commendable since he also kept wickets for a large part of his 567 games. In those games, he made 26,288 runs with 56 hundreds and 146 fifties. And he’s good for plenty more.

The hardest batsman to dismiss in South Africa’s history, Kallis provided the bedrock for many South African wins with his 25,334 runs in 519 games. He had 62 hundreds and 149 fifties in his 19-year-long career that ended early in 2014—fittingly, with a match-winning hundred against India.

The Lankan master has racked up 25,343 runs in 632 games—and those are some of the prettiest runs ever scored. Naturally, such a prolific career should be birthed in a high-scoring environment: Mahela’s career began in Colombo where Sri Lanka smashed India for 952 in an innings. Mahela has 52 hundreds and 133 fifties.

Nobody in the Caribbean had more ODI and Test runs than the Price of Trinidad. Lara finished with 22,358 runs in his 430 international games, with 53 hundreds and 11 fifties. His Test tally of 11,953 was a record till 2008. His ODI tally 10,405 remains a Caribbean record. What’s more Lara is the only man to score 100, 200, 300 and 400 in Test cricket.

Who would have thought that little man bowling a bit of left-arm spin and batting low down the order would end up on this list? The man with the muscular fore-arms began his career in 1989. He amassed 21,032 runs with 42 hundreds and 103 fifties in his 586 games. Nearly two-thirds of those runs—13,430—came in 445 ODIs. His ODI runs are still a country record, with Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene closing in.

The diminutive man from Guyana with the ungainly stance has made more runs in international cricket than that most celebrated Caribbean legend, Vivian Richards. Since his incredible career began in 1994, Chanders has racked up 20,805 runs with the help of 41 hundreds and 124 fifties. The 40-year-old still seems fit for a few years more, during which he would surely surpass the other Caribbean legend we will talk about soon.

The Pakistani giant played 499 Tests and ODIs, mostly for his country. Since his debut in 1991 till his retirement in 2007, Inzi scored 20,580 runs across all formats, with the help of 35 hundreds and 129 fifties. In ODIs, he made 11,739 runs; in Tests, he had 8,830. Nobody from his country has more runs at the highest level. In fact, in his last innings, he got out trying to hit the boundary that would have taken him past Javed Miandad’s tally of 8,832 Test runs.