Most IPL Runs of All Time

Virat Kohli has scored the most runs in IPL history, passing 8,000 in 2024 to become the first player to reach the mark. He is still an active player for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, so the record grows every season he plays.

No one else is close to the 8,000 line. The chasing group — Shikhar Dhawan, David Warner and Rohit Sharma — all sit above 6,000, but a gap of nearly 1,500 runs separates Kohli from second place. Below is the all-time leaderboard through the 2024 season, followed by the single-season record he also owns.

The most IPL runs: all-time leaderboard

Here are the top run-scorers in IPL history, with totals through the end of the 2024 season. Active players are marked, because their figures are still rising.

Runs	Player	Status	Main franchise
8,000+	Virat Kohli	Active	Royal Challengers Bengaluru
6,769	Shikhar Dhawan	Retired	Multiple
6,600+	Rohit Sharma	Active	Mumbai Indians
6,300+	David Warner	Active	Multiple
5,528	Suresh Raina	Retired	Chennai Super Kings
5,200+	MS Dhoni	Active	Chennai Super Kings

Kohli aside, the list is a mix of long-serving Indian top-order batters and one overseas name, David Warner. The retired players’ totals, Dhawan’s and Raina’s, are final; the rest continue to move.

Kohli’s record 973-run season

Kohli’s 2016 IPL is the best single season a batter has produced in the competition. He scored 973 runs in one campaign, at an average above 80, with four centuries — more hundreds in a single season than most players manage in an entire career.

The gap to second place tells the story. No player has since crossed 900 runs in a season, and few have reached 700. That year turned a very good IPL batter into the all-time leading run-scorer he became, and it remains the standard against which every hot streak is measured.

Why an active player owns the record

Kohli’s position at the top is partly about volume of opportunity. As an Indian batter and a fixture in the top order, he is not subject to the four-overseas-player limit that caps how often a David Warner or an AB de Villiers can appear. He has also played for a single franchise across the league’s entire history, batting at the top of the order almost every match.

That combination — longevity, a settled role and no overseas restriction — is why the leading run-scorer is an Indian top-order regular rather than one of the many brilliant overseas batters the IPL has hosted. For how the league compares with its rivals, see whether the Big Bash is bigger than the IPL.

The chasing pack

Shikhar Dhawan’s roughly 6,700 runs make him the highest-scoring player to have finished his IPL career, a total built on consistency across several franchises rather than one dominant peak. Rohit Sharma and David Warner sit just behind, both above 6,000 and both capable of adding to their tallies.

Suresh Raina, once the leading run-scorer in IPL history, now sits fifth on 5,528, a reminder that these lists reorder as new generations play more matches. MS Dhoni’s total is remarkable for a middle-order finisher who rarely bats long, a role that limits run accumulation compared with an opener.

How to read the numbers

Every figure for an active player is a snapshot. The totals here run through the 2024 season, and Kohli, Rohit and Dhoni have all added runs since. That is why two sources can list slightly different numbers depending on when they were updated — the gaps close or widen with each match played.

The single-season record, by contrast, is stable: Kohli’s 973 has stood since 2016 with no serious challenge. For more on the batters who hit hardest in the format, see our list of the most dangerous hard-hitters in cricket. Eight thousand runs is the number no one else has reached, and it keeps climbing.