Stats: India's leading run-scorers across all formats in the last 10 years

MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli have been India’s pillars of strength over the past decade

India is an integral part of world cricket with the Asian nation with a population of more than 1 billion the largest contributor of revenue by a big margin. The fans follow the cricketers like superstars with the game enjoying a remarkable following no matter what format is being played. People flock in huge numbers to watch their favourite cricketers play and the market-driven modern world has ensured that Indian cricketers are one of the busiest sportspersons around. 

Be it international cricket or the IPL, they are out on the field pretty much all-year-round and that has seen Indian cricketers making a beeline for the statistics column, but as has been the case mostly over the history of Indian cricket, it is the batsmen who dominate in this regard. India have been blessed with a number of great batsmen over the years and the trend has kept going over the last decade or so as well. 

India is looking forward to a bright future under the aggressive captaincy of Virat Kohli who will no doubt take over from the calm and composed MS Dhoni in the ODI and T20 formats as well to add to the Test captaincy he has well and truly made his own. What makes these two cricketers stand out is the fact that they have led from the front with the willow as well as with their leadership skills to ensure tremendous success for Team India. 

Dhoni, by far India’s best wicketkeeper-batsman is statistically India’s best ever skipper and the only captain to win all three major ICC trophies, starting with the T20 World Cup in 2007 followed by the 50-over World Cup in 2011 on home soil and finally the Champions Trophy in 2013. Kohli meanwhile has already carved out a place for himself in Indian cricket and started his Test captaincy with a bang with series victories over Sri Lanka, South Africa, and West Indies and his batting has only gotten better with increased responsibility.

It is little wonder then that Dhoni and Kohli lead the charts for being the highest run-getters for India across all formats over the past 10 years though the fact that the former has enjoyed a continuous run in the Indian team over that period has helped his cause in grabbing the first spot. While Kohli made his ODI debut in 2008, he had to wait until 2011 for his first Test cap but that has not stopped the 27-year-old from amassing more than 12000 runs at an average of above 50.

While Dhoni has scored 12620 runs from 375 matches, Kohli is only 522 runs behind having played more than a hundred games lesser than Dhoni and is sure to surpass his predecessor in the coming months. Kohli unsurprisingly has the most centuries (37) while Dhoni 'the finisher’ has an astonishing 82 half-centuries to his name. 

Coming in at third spot is batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, who in spite of not featuring in T20Is and playing his last international match in 2013, has done much better than his compatriots, scoring 9740 runs from 169 matches. He is followed by India’s former opening pair of Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag with the KKR skipper, who is still hopeful of a comeback to the national team, edging out the ‘troll king of Twitter’.

At sixth spot is the mercurial Rohit Sharma who has had his ups and down for Team India since making his debut in 2007. In spite of being in and out of side at times, the Mumbai Indians skipper has done well to score 7246 runs in 226 matches across all formats. He is ahead of the left-handed duo of Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh with the former’s woeful form outside of the subcontinent, as well as being a limited-overs specialist, a major contributor to his lowly position in the table. 

In at ninth spot is Rahul Dravid who was the backbone of the Indian Test side up until his retirement in 2012. He scored 5622 runs from 112 runs and is ahead of present Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan who completes the top 10 list with his tally of 4940 runs from 118 matches. 

Here is a look at the full table for India’s Top 10 run-getters across all formats over the past 10 years: 

No	Player	Span	Matches	Runs	Average	100s/50s	HS
1	MS Dhoni	2006-16	375	12620	44.91	11/82	224
2	Virat Kohli	2008-16	259	12098	50.40	37/64	200
3	Sachin Tendulkar	2006-13	169	9740	48.94	26/51	214
4	Gautam Gambhir	2007-14	211	9123	40.36	18/58	206
5	Virender Sehwag	2006-13	169	8474	41.33	19/36	319
6	Rohit Sharma	2007-16	226	7246	38.13	13/42	264
7	Suresh Raina	2006-16	277	7058	33.29	7/43	120
8	Yuvraj Singh	2006-16	211	6209	35.07	7/42	169
9	Rahul Dravid	2006-12	112	5622	39.59	13/29	191
10	Shikhar Dhawan	2010-16	118	4940	39.20	13/22	187