ABP Live Sports Stats: Top 5 Highest International Run-Scorers In Cricket History

Suyash Sahay

abplive|12-01-2026

Sri Lanka's legendary batsman Mahela Jayawardene ranks 5th among top international run-scorers in cricket, having hit 25,957 runs.

He was active internationally from 1997 to 2015. In 2011, he scored a ton against India in the final of the ICC World Cup, and while Sri Lanka lost that match, Jayawardene did lift the T20 World Cup three years later.

Ricky Ponting was one of the most fiercest batsmen in international cricket. He used to battle for the most international centuries with Sachin Tendulkar in the 2000s, and across formats, hit 27,483 runs in his career from 1995 to 2012.

The Australian great won three ICC World Cups, two as skipper, leading one of the most feared teams in cricket history.

Kumar Sangakkara is another batting legend from Sri Lanka, who captained them to the 2011 World Cup Final and the 2014 T20 World Cup victory.

As a pure batsman, Sangakkara scored 28,016 runs in his international career that lasted from 2000 to 2015. Nowadays, he is involved in managing the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL.

Virat Kohli is the only active cricketer on this list, and recently became the fastest player ever to hit 28,000 international runs. 

As of this writing, Kohli has scored 28,068 and is poised to greatly increased that tally, even in the twilight years of his stellar career.

The God of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, to no one's surprise, ranks number 1 as the highest international run-scorer of all time, and by some margin.

In a career that spanned from 1989 to 2013, Tendulkar smashed a whopping 34,357 runs across ODIs, Tests, and T20Is, establishing a record that would be extremely hard to match, let alone surpass.

Interestingly, Kohli and Tendulkar won their first ICC World Cup together.

The former then went on to lift the ICC Champions Trophy twice (which Tendulkar won in 2002), as well as the T20 World Cup in 2024.

The former then went on to lift the ICC Champions Trophy twice (which Tendulkar won in 2002), as well as the T20 World Cup in 2024.

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