Stats: Most career runs made by players at each batting position in Test cricket
It is often said that cricket is a batsman’s game and rightly so – many players have proved that statement by scoring tons of runs, breaking records and creating milestones for their respective countries in their careers. Some batsmen build their identities on fixed batting positions – like we only remember Sachin as a no.4 batsman for India in Tests, and Sunil Gavaskar as an opener, or say Kumar Sangakkara as a no.3 batsman for Sri Lanka.
Many players have taken their batting position to the next level by amassing an unimaginable amount of runs from their specific spot in the order, to have set standards for that particular batting position for upcoming generations’ batsmen.
For example, now Indian fans want to see Virat Kohli to bat like Sachin Tendulkar at no.4 for India in Tests. This is because Sachin has increased the value and importance of that position by scoring his most number of career runs at that batting position.
All batting positions in cricket are important and all the players batting at those positions have their own roles to play by.
Let’s take a look at most number of runs scored by players at each batting position in Test cricket.
| Position | Player Name | Country | Innings | Runs | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opener (1&2) | Sunil Gavaskar | India | 203 | 9607 | 50.30 |
| 3 | Kumar Sangakkara | Sri Lanka | 219 | 10524 | 60.83 |
| 4 | Sachin Tendulkar | India | 275 | 13492 | 54.40 |
| 5 | Shiv Chanderpaul | West Indies | 151 | 6883 | 56.42 |
| 6 | Steve Waugh | Australia | 79 | 3165 | 51.05 |
| 7 | Adam Gilchrist | Australia | 100 | 3948 | 46.45 |
| 8 | Daniel Vettori | New Zealand | 67 | 2227 | 39.77 |
| 9 | Daniel Vettori | New Zealand | 53 | 1105 | 23.51 |
| 10 | Waqar Younis | Pakistan | 48 | 496 | 11.81 |
| 11 | M Muralitharan | Sri Lanka | 99 | 623 | 11.33 |