Mumbai. India’s great batsman Sachin Tendulkar ranks first among the players who have scored the most runs in international cricket. It has been more than a decade since Tendulkar retired but no player has been able to break the record of runs scored by him. Including all three formats of Test, ODI and T20 International, Sachin has scored a total of 34,357 runs in his unique career spanning 24 years. At the second place is India’s experienced Virat Kohli, followed by former Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara, Australian legend Ricky Ponting and Mahela Jayawardene of Sri Lanka. All of them have shown their batting prowess in world cricket but even after this they have not been able to break Sachin’s record. Of these, Virat is now the only active cricketer who is playing in the ODI format. In such a situation, now only Virat has the opportunity to break his record.
It is noteworthy that Tendulkar played a total of 664 international matches for India between 1989 and 2013. In these, he batted in 782 innings and remained unbeaten 74 times, scoring 34,357 runs at an impressive average of 48.52. His highest score was 248 runs not out. He has 100 international centuries and 164 half-centuries to his name, which are still world records and reflect his unique batting ability. In his career, he faced more than 50,000 balls and hit more than four thousand fours and 264 sixes.
Whereas Virat is at number two. He has come closest to Sachin’s record. In his illustrious career from 2008 till now, Kohli has scored 28,359 runs at an extraordinary average of 52.71 while remaining unbeaten 91 times in 629 innings of 562 matches. His highest score is 254 runs not out. Virat has 85 centuries and 148 half-centuries in his name. Batting with an excellent strike rate of 79.73, Virat is considered one of the most successful and influential batsmen in modern cricket, and he still has a chance to challenge Sachin’s record.
In third place is Sri Lanka’s great wicketkeeper-batsman Kumar Sangakkara, who scored 28,016 runs in 666 innings of 594 matches between 2000 and 2015 at an average of 46.77. His highest score was 319 runs. Sangakkara has scored 63 centuries and 153 half-centuries. Former Australia captain and two-time World Cup winner Ponting is at fourth place in this list. He played 560 international matches from 1995 to 2012 and scored 27,483 runs in 668 innings at an average of 45.95. Ponting has scored 71 centuries and 146 half-centuries in his career. At fifth position is another legendary Sri Lankan batsman Mahela Jayawardene, who scored 25,957 runs at an average of 40.81 in 725 innings of 652 international matches from 1997 to 2015. His highest score was 374 runs. Jayawardene has 54 centuries and 136 half-centuries in his name. All five batsmen are the epitome of consistency, exceptional skill and excellent performance over a long period of time in international cricket. However, despite the excellent performances of all these great players, Sachin’s record of most international runs still remains unbroken.
