Highest run scorers in Test cricket ranked
Your guide to the players with the most runs scored in the history of Test cricket.
With so much more Test cricket being played in the 21st century than in previous eras, the list of the players with the most Test runs is skewed towards modern greats.
All of the top 10 have played at least part of their career since the turn of the century. Three have debuted in 2000 or later, with the most recent addition to the top 10 only starting his Test career in 2012.
To put up over 10,000 Test runs, batters need exceptional technique, temperament, and the skill to adapt to different conditions.
Of course, longevity is a must, which means maintaining production throughout their careers and avoiding career-altering injuries. We run the rule over the greatest batters the sport has ever seen.
RadioTimes.com brings you the top run scorers in Test cricket history.
Read more: Best cricket players in the world 2024 | Best cricket players of all time | Highest wicket takers in Test cricket
Most Test runs in history
10. Joe Root – 11,626 runs
After passing Sunil Gavaskar and Steve Waugh, Joe Root dislodged Allan Border to move into the top 10. Root only celebrated his 33rd birthday at the end of 2023, and remains at the very top of his game.
With a Test average a shade under 50 after a run of low scores, Root is one of the greatest players of his generation. He’s far clear of the rest of the Fab Four in this category.
Getting into the top five of all-time is well within reach. Catching Sachin Tendulkar is certainly possible if he plays into his late thirties.
9. Mahela Jayawardene – 11,814 runs
Debuting in 1997 and playing his final Test in 2014, Mahela Jayawardene is a great of the modern game. An average of 49.84 in Test matches tells just part of the story of how the 5’6 right-hander became a universally admired player.
Arriving on the international scene with plenty of hype, Jayawardene lived up to and exceeded all expectations with his quiet, steely determination and faultless hand-eye coordination.
The Sri Lankan, though, had substance to accompany his elegance, with a knack for going big when he got in, which was particularly important on the flat pitches of the subcontinent.
8. Shivnarine Chanderpaul – 11,867 runs
Unorthodox in his stance, Shivnarine Chanderpaul began his international career as a stroke maker. As the West Indies team around him weakened, Chanderpaul became a far more defensive player, renowned for his backs-to-the-wall knocks and grinding opposition attacks with his nudges and nurdles.
Chanderpaul was not a player for the purists. He was generally a hard player to watch, but there’s no doubting his effectiveness against some of the best bowlers in the history of the game.
7. Brian Lara – 11,953 runs
Many would name Brian Charles Lara in their all-time Test XI. Muttiah Muralitharan selected him as the toughest opponent of his career. The swashbuckling left-hander has the highest first-class and international scores, plus he was responsible for one of the greatest innings ever played with his 153* against Australia in 1999.
Lara transcended cricket. The face of video games and a charismatic personality, even people with no more than a passing interest in the sport recognise his name.
6. Kumar Sangakkara – 12,400 runs
Owner of the highest average among players with over 10,000 Test runs, Kumar Sangakkara spent a good portion of his career as a wicketkeeper-batter for Sri Lanka before focusing on the role of specialist batter. A technically perfect and cool-headed left-hander, Sangakkara provided headaches for bowlers from 2000 all the way through to his retirement in 2015.
Only Don Bradman has scored more Test double centuries. He is the fastest player to reach 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 (joint), 11,000 and 12,000 Test runs.
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5. Alastair Cook – 12,472 runs
England’s all-time leading scorer and the top scoring left-hander in Test history, Alastair Cook was perhaps the most limited Test player to reach the 10,000-run threshold. Cook was not blessed with an array of shots, instead relying on unbreakable concentration and taking full advantage when bowlers allowed him to unleash his cut or pull.
Cook has the lowest average of players with 10,000 runs, but he also had the toughest task of the lot as an opening batter in English conditions.
His career had immense highs like the 2010-11 Ashes mixed with crushing lows, including the whitewash in Australia and considerable criticism of his captaincy.
4. Rahul Dravid – 13,288 runs
Appropriately nicknamed ‘The Wall’, Rahul Dravid averaged north of 52 in Test cricket. An unshakeable character with an efficient and textbook technique, Dravid was comfortable occupying the crease and proved an immensely frustrating player to bowl to.
While some of his teammates struggled when playing outside of Asia, Dravid had the technique to adapt to different conditions, leading to plenty of success in Australia, New Zealand, England and the Caribbean.
Dravid is one of only two players to score 10,000 Test runs from a single position in the order.
3. Jacques Kallis – 13,289 runs
Jacques Kallis is statistically the greatest all-rounder in Test history, with 292 wickets to accompany his 13,289 runs and 45 centuries. Kallis was exceptionally durable, too, playing in 166 Test matches between 1995 and 2013. In that time, he starred as South Africa became the number one Test team in the world and was frequently near the top of the Test batting rankings.
Kallis was comfortable ticking over at a strike rate of 46, but he had all the shots to go after the bowling when the circumstances allowed.
While not the most captivating player for the neutrals, there were very few weaknesses in the South African’s batting, allowing him to construct long innings.
2. Ricky Ponting – 13,378 runs
Ricky Ponting was a ferocious competitor and aggressive shot maker, despite batting at number three for 196 of his 287 Test innings. As is the case for many Australians, Ponting was at his best on the back foot, and is renowned as one of the best players of the pull and hook in the history of the game.
He was comfortable coming forward too, however, possessing shots all around the wicket. Many of his 41 Test centuries were match-winning knocks, with a strike rate of almost 59 reflecting how he could take the game away from opponents.
Being an attack-minded batter came with its downsides, and he had a tendency for making himself vulnerable to LBWs, but Ponting sits as a true Australian great.
1. Sachin Tendulkar – 15,921 runs
Miles clear atop this list and with 51 centuries to his name across 200 Test matches (also a record), Sachin Tendulkar has an argument to be considered the greatest batter since Don Bradman.
Debuting for India as a 16-year-old, Tendulkar’s Test career spanned four decades with records tumbling throughout. The Little Master had perfect balance at the crease, enabling excellent timing whether rocking back for a pull or leaning into his trademark straight drive.
Tendulkar is worshipped in India, and adored around the world. Beyond the favourable wickets of the subcontinent, he was able to excel, averaging over 45 in every Test-playing nation other than Pakistan.
Owner of a catalogue of Test records, it is hard to see anyone catching Tendulkar’s run tally with the direction Test cricket is heading.
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