Most Runs in International Cricket (All Formats)

Sachin Tendulkar has scored the most runs in international cricket, with 34,357 across Tests, one-day internationals and T20 internationals combined. No other player has reached 29,000, which makes his all-format aggregate the biggest lead of any batting record in the game.

The figure took 24 years of international cricket to build, from 1989 to 2013, and it is what happens when a player tops both the Test and one-day lists at the same time. This is the combined tally across all three formats, so it sits apart from the Test-only and ODI-only records. Here is how the aggregate leaders stack up, and why the top of the list is almost entirely retired.

Most runs in international cricket: all-time leaders

Combined runs across Tests, ODIs and T20Is. Retired players’ totals are final; Virat Kohli remains active in one-day cricket.

Rank	Player	Total runs	Status
1	Sachin Tendulkar (India)	34,357	Retired
2	Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)	28,016	Retired
3	Ricky Ponting (Australia)	27,483	Retired
4	Virat Kohli (India)	27,000+	Active (ODIs)
5	Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka)	25,957	Retired
6	Jacques Kallis (South Africa)	25,534	Retired

Tendulkar leads Sangakkara by more than 6,000 runs. The one moving number on the list is Virat Kohli, who has climbed into the top four and is closing on Ponting’s 27,483 while still playing one-day cricket.

Tendulkar: top of every list

Tendulkar’s aggregate is built on leading both major formats. His 15,921 Test runs are the most in history, and his 18,426 one-day runs are also the most, so he does not rely on one format to hold the overall record. Very few batters have topped even one of those lists; he tops both.

His career ran from a teenage debut in 1989 to his final Test in 2013, spanning eras, opponents and rule changes. That longevity is the real record here. Scoring at a high level is one thing; doing it for 24 years is what puts 34,357 out of reach.

Kohli: the one active climber

Virat Kohli is the only current player near the top of the list. He has passed 27,000 runs across formats and now plays only one-day internationals, having retired from T20 internationals in 2024 and from Tests in 2025. That leaves one avenue to keep climbing, so his total still rises, if more slowly than before.

Even at the top of his powers, Kohli would need years more one-day cricket to approach Tendulkar’s mark, and he is more than 6,000 runs short. His realistic target is moving up the order rather than the summit. For his standout format, see the most centuries in cricket, where Kohli sits second all-time.

Why the record is so hard to break

Passing 34,000 international runs asks for two things at once: a very high standard and a very long career. Modern schedules, franchise leagues pulling players toward shorter formats, and the physical toll of year-round cricket all cut against the 20-plus-year Test-and-ODI career that Tendulkar had.

Players now specialise or retire from formats early, exactly as Kohli has, which caps how many international runs they can accumulate. The aggregate record rewards the all-format, all-decade career that is becoming rarer, not more common.

How the aggregate differs from format records

This list counts Tests, ODIs and T20Is together, so it does not match the single-format records. Tendulkar leads the aggregate and both the Test and ODI lists, but a player can rank high here through one dominant format. Franchise cricket, including the IPL, does not count, because those runs are not international.

For the individual pieces, see the most Test runs and most ODI runs leaderboards, which show how the same names rearrange when you split the formats out.

If you would rather test your own cricket knowledge than read another leaderboard, try our cricket game Era Ball, where you draft legends across eras and chase a title. Tendulkar’s 34,357 is the number to beat, and only one active player is even in the conversation.