Top 5 batters with most runs in T20 World Cup history
Only one out of the top 5 highest scorers failed to win the T20 World Cup.
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Virat Kohli (Image via ESPNcricinfo)
The first T20I match was played between Australia and New Zealand. Although the first T20I was played in a more light-hearted manner, with a competition between players for the best retro look. Billy Bowden showed Glenn McGrath a red card for bowling an underarm ball as he tried to recreate the infamous Greg Chappell underarm incident.
But now the format has become more serious with the rise of T20 leagues all across the world, where some brilliant batters are formed. But only few are able to showcase their skill at the biggest stage of T20 cricket, the T20 World Cup. There have been 8 T20 World Cups so far, but only 2 teams have managed to win it twice.
Only two players have been able to score 1000+ runs in the World Cup. Out of the top 5 run scorers, only one has never won the T20 World Cup. 2 out of the five players are still active players as well.
| Batter | County | Runs |
| Virat Kohli | India | 1141 |
| Mahela Jayawardene | Sri Lanka | 1016 |
| Chris Gayle | West Indies | 965 |
| Rohit Sharma | India | 963 |
| Tillakaratne Dilshan | Sri Lanka | 897 |
| David Warner | Australia | 806 |
| Jos Buttler | England | 799 |
| Shakib Al Hasan | Bangladesh | 742 |
| AB de Villiers | South Africa | 717 |
| Kane Williamson | New Zealand | 699 |
Top 5 batters with most runs in T20 World Cup history
5. Tillakaratne Dilshan (897 runs)
Tillakaratne Dilshan played his first T20 World Cup in 2007. He played 35 matches, scoring 897 runs with an average of 30.94. His highest score came in the 2009 T20I World Cup, where he scored 96* off 57 balls against West Indies. In the same season, he scored 317 runs, the most by any batter in a single edition of the World Cup, but was overtaken by Virat Kohli in 2014.
He has won the T20 World Cup once in 2014, beating India in the finals. He has scored six 50s, but has also gone for ducks 5 times in the 35 games he has played. In his final World Cup appearance in 2016, he scored 36 off 40 against South Africa.
4. Rohit Sharma (963)
Rohit Sharma is the only Indian to have played every edition of the T20I World Cup. He was integral to India’s 2007 World Cup winning side, scoring 30* off 16 in the World Cup final. He has scored 963 runs in 36 innings.
He has nine 50s, with his highest being 79 against Australia in the 2009 World Cup. Since 2014, he has been opening for the Indian side, usually playing in the middle order. In 2022 he captained in the T20 World Cup for the first time, reaching the semi-finals but losing to eventual champions, England.
3. Chris Gayle (965)
Chris Gayle is the first T20I centurion, scoring it in the 2007 World Cup opener against South Africa. He is also the only batter to score two centuries in the history of the tournament. Gayle featured in all editions of the T20I World Cup till 2021, after which he wasn’t picked.
His best World Cup came in 2012, where he scored 222 runs in six innings. His efforts were instrumental in them winning in 2012. He was World Champion in 2016 as well, beating England in the finals.
2. Mahela Jayawardene (1016)
Mahela Jayawardene also debuted in the 2007 T20 World Cup and played in all formats until his retirement in 2014. When Sri Lanka posted the highest T20I World Cup total against Kenya in 2007, he scored 65 off 27. His highest score came against Zimbabwe, where he scored 100.
Jayawardene is the first player to score 1000 runs in the history of the World Cup. He achieved it in the 2014 World Cup final, where he scored 24. In 31 matches, he has an impressive average of 39.39 with an average of 134.74.
1. Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli is regarded as the greatest T20 player of all time. Despite missing out on the first three World Cup, he has scored 1141 runs in just 25 innings, with an average of 81.5. He scored his highest score, 89*, in a losing cause against West Indies in the 2016 semi-finals.
He has finished as the top scorer in 2014 and 2022, scoring 319 and 296. Some of his iconic innings include his 82* against Pakistan in 2022, 82* against Australia in 2016 and 78* against Pakistan in 2012. He is the only player in the top 5 to not have won the T20I World Cup.
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Dhruv Kulkarni
(1120 Articles Published)