Most Runs In International Cricket History: Top 20 Men’s Run-Scorers

As of 16 October 2026, Sachin Tendulkar remains the answer to most runs in international cricket. His 34,357 men’s international runs combine 15,921 in Tests, 18,426 in ODIs and 10 in one T20I. This list ranks official men’s Test, ODI and T20I runs together, uses the latest verifiable ESPNcricinfo record tables and current player profiles, and excludes IPL, domestic and other franchise cricket.

Table Numbering: The No. column shows row order. Players with equal totals still share the same record; the row numbers do not break those ties.

Records At A Glance

Verified men’s international records, with format totals kept separate.

All-Time Leader

Sachin Tendulkar

34,357

India · International Runs

Second Overall

Virat Kohli

28,527

Sri Lanka · International Runs

Leading Active Batter

Kumar Sangakkara

28,016

India · International Runs

Records Checked 16 October 2026 · Official Internationals Only

Archive Portraits: Cricbuzz (Tendulkar), ESPNcricinfo (Sangakkara), Anand Anil / Wikimedia Commons (Kohli, CC BY-SA 4.0).

Who Has Scored The Most Runs In International Cricket?

Sachin Tendulkar has scored the most runs in international cricket: 34,357 in 664 matches and 782 innings, with 100 centuries and a best score of 248 not out. The total is not a count of every match he played. It is the sum of his official senior men’s Tests, ODIs and T20I only. That distinction keeps IPL, county, domestic List A, exhibition and franchise-T20 figures out of the record. It also makes the ranking comparable: every player is measured against the same three international formats.

Virat Kohli is the closest active-era comparison. The current combined ESPNcricinfo table gives him 28,527 runs, 86 centuries and a mechanically recalculated 52.83 combined average. A January 2026 ICC news report recorded him at 28,068 at that earlier checkpoint, so older articles can show a lower number. The table below uses the later record-table snapshot, which includes matches through 15 October 2026.

Top 20 Players With The Most Runs In International Cricket

The ranking below is a combined Test+ODI+T20I table. “Matches” means official international matches across the three formats; “highest score” is the player’s best individual international innings, not a sum of format highs. Country is shown as the player’s primary international country, while the source table preserves Asia, ICC and other representative-team tags where applicable.

These rows come from the ESPNcricinfo combined record table retrieved for the 16 October cutoff. The asterisk means not out. A player’s country label does not remove official runs scored for Asia XI, ICC XI or another recognised representative side; the ranking follows the source’s combined-record treatment rather than silently dropping those innings.

Most Runs In Test Cricket

Sachin Tendulkar is the all-time Test run-scorer, with 15,921 runs in 200 Tests at an average of 53.78. Joe Root is the leading active-era name in the retrieved table, with 14,278 runs in 169 Tests at an average of 50.45. Root has 41 Test centuries and a highest score of 262. The current all-time order is Tendulkar first, Root second, Ricky Ponting third, Jacques Kallis fourth and Rahul Dravid fifth. This distinction matters because “most runs” can mean the historical leader or the highest total among players still appearing in current records.

For a fair comparison, Test average is runs divided by Test dismissals. It is not comparable with the combined average unless the same calculation is made from all three formats. A Test can give a batter two innings; an ODI or T20I gives one. Matches and innings must therefore be read separately.

Most Runs In ODI Cricket

Sachin Tendulkar leads ODI cricket with 18,426 runs in 463 matches, 49 centuries and a highest score of 200 not out. Virat Kohli is second with 15,109 ODI runs in 317 matches, 55 centuries and a 183 best. Kumar Sangakkara is third on 14,234, followed by Ricky Ponting on 13,704 and Sanath Jayasuriya on 13,430.

The ODI table shows why Tendulkar’s combined lead is so durable. His ODI total alone is larger than the entire international totals of many outstanding players. Kohli’s 15,109 is the more current figure in the retrieved table, including his 2026 ODIs. ODI runs include only official one-day internationals, not List A matches, the IPL or other domestic competitions.

Most Runs In T20 International Cricket

Babar Azam leads the current T20I career list with 4,596 runs in 145 matches. Jos Buttler follows with 4,384 in 163 matches, Rohit Sharma has 4,231 in 159, and Virat Kohli has 4,188 in 125. The T20I record table also shows how quickly this list can move: active players may change position after one short series, and the cutoff date matters.

T20I numbers are the narrowest part of a combined international total. A batter can have thousands of IPL, Big Bash, PSL or other franchise runs that do not count here. For that reason, the T20I leader is not automatically the overall leader. Babar’s 4,596 T20I runs are outstanding, but Tendulkar’s 15,921 Tests and 18,426 ODIs are what create the large combined gap.

Sachin Tendulkar Vs Virat Kohli: International Run Records

The cleanest comparison is format by format first, then combined. Tendulkar’s figures are 15,921 Test runs, 18,426 ODI runs and 10 T20I runs. Kohli’s current profile figures are 9,230 Tests, 15,109 ODIs and 4,188 T20Is. Adding each player’s three format totals gives 34,357 for Tendulkar and 28,527 for Kohli. The totals are exact sums of the three official formats, not estimates from an old infographic.

Tendulkar’s combined average is 34,357 divided by 708 dismissals, or 48.53 rounded to two decimals. Kohli’s is 28,527 divided by 540 dismissals, or 52.83. Those denominators come from combined innings minus not-outs: 782–74 for Tendulkar and 632–92 for Kohli. Do not add Test, ODI and T20I averages; that would give a mathematically meaningless result because each format has different innings and dismissal counts. The source table displays slightly lower rounded values, so this article shows the direct arithmetic from the published runs, innings and not-outs.

Tendulkar leads by 5,830 runs and 14 centuries. Kohli has the higher combined average in the current table and remains an active international batter in the record source. That is a factual contrast, not a single-number verdict on two careers from different eras.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who Has Scored The Most Runs In International Cricket History?

Sachin Tendulkar holds the men’s combined Test, ODI and T20I record with 34,357 runs.

How Many International Runs Has Sachin Tendulkar Scored?

Tendulkar scored 34,357 official men’s international runs: 15,921 in Tests, 18,426 in ODIs and 10 in T20Is.

Who Is Second On The All-Time International Runs List?

Virat Kohli is second in the current combined table with 28,527 runs. Kumar Sangakkara is third with 28,016.

Who Has Scored The Most Runs In Test Cricket?

Sachin Tendulkar is the all-time Test leader with 15,921 runs. Joe Root is the leading active-era name in the current table with 14,278.

Who Has Scored The Most Runs In ODI Cricket?

Sachin Tendulkar leads ODI cricket with 18,426 runs in 463 matches.

Who Has The Most Runs In T20I Cricket?

Babar Azam leads the retrieved current T20I table with 4,596 runs in 145 matches.

Are IPL Runs Included In International Cricket Records?

No. IPL runs are franchise runs. This ranking includes only official men’s Tests, ODIs and T20Is; IPL, BBL, PSL, county, domestic and other franchise totals are excluded.

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Source note: Statistics were checked against ESPNcricinfo combined, Test, ODI and T20I record tables, current player profiles and an ICC record report. Source URLs and retrieval notes are kept privately in the research ledger.