International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments are the most significant events in the world of cricket. It is true that the cricketers play with all their dedication in bilateral series but ICC tournaments are just above anything else. These tournaments bring together national teams from around the globe to compete at the highest level. In this article, we will take a look at Top 10 highest run scorers in ICC tournaments.
The ICC organizes various tournaments for different formats of the game, including Test matches, One Day Internationals (ODIs), and Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is). However, in this post, we are taking into consideration only white ball ICC tournaments.
The three major ICC tournaments (white ball) include:
1. ICC ODI World Cup : Held every four years, the 50 overs games is one of the most-watched events in the cricketing calendar. It features the top cricketing nations competing for the prestigious trophy.
2. ICC T20 World Cup : This is the premier international T20 cricket tournament, held every two years, where teams compete in the shortest format of the game.
3. ICC Champions Trophy : This tournament has been stopped by ICC. The last edition of ICC Champions Trophy was played in 2017.
The above tournaments provide players with a platform to showcase their skills on a global stage. Scoring runs in these ICC competitions is often considered a significant achievement in a player’s career.
Most runs in ICC tournaments
| Rank | Player | Total Runs | ODI WC | T20 WC | Champions Trophy |
| 1 | Virat Kohli (IND) | 3465 | 1795 | 1141 | 529 |
| 2 | Rohit Sharma (IND) | 3019 | 1575 | 963 | 481 |
| 3 | Chris Gayle (WI) | 2942 | 1186 | 965 | 791 |
| 4 | Kumar Sangakkara (SL) | 2876 | 1532 | 661 | 683 |
| 5 | Mahela Jayawardene (SL) | 2858 | 1100 | 1016 | 742 |
| 6 | Sachin Tendulkar (IND) | 2719 | 2278 | – | 441 |
| 7 | Ricky Ponting (AUS) | 2422 | 1743 | 86 | 593 |
| 8 | David Warner (AUS) | 2421 | 1527 | 806 | 88 |
| 9 | Tillakaratne Dilshan (SL) | 2372 | 1112 | 897 | 363 |
| 10 | Shakib Al Hasan (BAN) | 2345 | 1332 | 742 | 271 |
- Former Indian skipper Virat Kohli has scored the most runs in ICC tournaments. He has recently surpassed Sachin Tendulkar after scoring a lot of runs in 2023 ODI World Cup.
- Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar is the only batsman in the list of Top 10 run scorers in ICC tournaments who has not played a single T20 match in ICC tournament. All his runs came in either ODI World Cup or Champions Trophy.
- Shakib Al Hasan from Bangladesh is the only all rounder who gets a place in the list of most runs scored in ICC Tournaments.
- The above list is dominated by Indian and Sri Lankan players as both nations have three players each. Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Sachin Tendulkar are from India whereas Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan are from Sri Lanka.
- Indian top order batsmen Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma occupies the top 2 positions in the list of most runs scored in ICC tournaments.
- Six out of ten players in the above list have already retired from the game. Only four players are active.
Read also:- List of highest wicket takers in Test Cricket
