Top 5 run-scorers in 2016 across all formats
In every cricketer’s life, there are prolific years and lean periods. Some make the most of their purple patches leaving behind a legacy. Some get carried away by their form and end up not making enough runs to make up for the dry period that would come by at some point. In contemporary cricket, there are two aspects to the numbers – a batsman can score across three formats which could increase your tally of runs drastically but a modern batsman also has to adjust to the pace of the game in each of the formats.
Some like Virat Kohli ace that test. Kohli has an average of 86.5, the fifth highest year-end average ever across all formats.
Here, we take a look at the top 5 batsmen in terms of runs scored across all formats in this calendar year. Virat Kohli leads the charts and so good has this year been for him that he only narrowly misses out on being one of the top 5 run-scorers of all-time, across all formats in a calendar year, just 31 runs behind fifth-placed Rahul Dravid. The lowest number of innings played by any of the top 5 players in that list is Kane Williamson’s 46.
Kohli got just 41 this year, to his disadvantage and given his form, another five innings could have easily propelled him at least to No.3. Maybe, he will manage that next year, given his sublime form. Meanwhile, here’s the top 5 for this year.
#5 Quinton de Kock – 1781 runs
Quinton de Kock certainly had a great year, despite not playing as many innings as some of his competitors. Yet, it is the testimony of his talent that he picked up the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year Award having racked up a lot of runs in the shorter format of the game. In all, Quinton piled 1781 runs in just 37 innings at 53.96 with 14 fifty-plus scores.
The highlight of his year was certainly his 178 against Australia in an ODI at Centurion and a century against the same team from down the order, in Hobart, in their own den in a Test. In 8 Tests, he managed 695 runs at 63.18 at a strike-rate of 78.61. Can you really ask for more from your wicket-keeper in whites? In ODIs, he was the third highest run-getter with 857 runs in just 17 innings at 57.13 with a strike-rate of 108.61, the highest amongst the top 10 run-getters.