List of players who have scored 10,000 or more runs in Test cricket

Sunil Gavaskar was the first player to cross the 10,000 run mark in Tests.

Scoring over 10,000 runs across a playing career in any format of cricket is considered a significant achievement. ^[1] In the chase for achieving top scores, West Indian Garfield Sobers retired as the most prolific run scorer in Test cricket, with a total of 8,032 runs in 1974. ^[2] The record stood for nine years, until it was broken by England's Geoffrey Boycott in the 1982 series against India. ^{[3] [4]} Boycott remained the top scorer in the format until Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar surpassed his tally two years later in 1983. ^{[5] [6]} In March 1987, Gavaskar became the first player to cross 10,000 run mark in Tests during a match against Pakistan. ^[7] As of December 2022 ^[update] , fourteen players—from seven teams that are Full Members of the International Cricket Council (ICC)—have scored 10,000 runs in Tests. Out of these, three are from Australia and India, while two are from England, Sri Lanka and the West Indies. One player each from Pakistan and South Africa form the rest. ^[7] No player from Bangladesh, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Ireland or Zimbabwe has passed the 10,000 run mark in Tests yet.

In terms of innings, West Indian Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar and Kumar Sangakkara are the fastest (195) to reach the 10,000 run mark, while Australia's Steve Waugh is the slowest to achieve the feat (244). ^[7] Tendulkar holds multiple records—most appearances (200 matches), most runs (15,921) and highest number of both centuries (51) and half-centuries (68). ^[5] England's Joe Root is the fastest in terms of time span, taking 9 years and 174 days, while West Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul's time span of 18 years and 37 days is the slowest among all. Joe Root and Alastair Cook share the record for the youngest player to score 10,000 runs, both reaching this milestone at the age of 31 years and 157 days. ^[8]

Players with 10,000 or more Test runs

• First – denotes the year of debut
• Last – denotes the year of the latest match
• Mat. – denotes the number of matches played
• Inn. – denotes the number of innings batted
• Date – denotes the date on which the player reached the 10,000 run mark
• ^ – denotes that the player was at some time the leading run scorer in Tests
• † – denotes that the player is active in Tests

10,000 or more runs in Tests

No.	Player	Portrait	Team	First	Last	Mat.	Inn.	Runs	Avg.	100s	50s	Age when reached	Date [7]
1	Sachin Tendulkar [5] [9] ^		India	1989	2013	200	329	15,921	53.78	51	68	31 years and 326 days	16 March 2005
2	Ricky Ponting [5] [10]		Australia	1995	2012	168	287	13,378	51.85	41	62	33 years and 163 days	30 May 2008
3	Jacques Kallis [5] [11]		South Africa	1995	2013	166	280	13,289	55.37	45	55	33 years and 134 days	27 February 2009
4	Rahul Dravid [5] [12]		India	1996	2012	164	286	13,288	52.31	36	63	35 years and 78 days	29 March 2008
5	Alastair Cook [5] [13]		England	2006	2018	161	291	12,472	45.35	33	57	31 years and 157 days	30 May 2016
6	Kumar Sangakkara [5] [14]		Sri Lanka	2000	2015	134	233	12,400	57.40	38	52	35 years and 61 days	26 December 2012
7	Brian Lara [5] [15] ^		West Indies	1990	2006	131	232	11,953	52.88	34	48	35 years and 106 days	15 August 2004
8	Shivnarine Chanderpaul [5] [16]		West Indies	1994	2015	164	280	11,867	51.37	30	66	37 years and 254 days	26 April 2012
9	Mahela Jayawardene [5] [17]		Sri Lanka	1997	2014	149	252	11,814	49.84	34	50	34 years and 213 days	26 December 2011
10	Joe Root [5] [18] †		England	2012	2024	139	254	11,599	49.78	31	60	32 years and 184 days	2 July 2022
11	Allan Border [5] [19] ^		Australia	1978	1994	156	265	11,174	50.56	27	63	37 years and 159 days	2 January 1993
12	Steve Waugh [5] [20]		Australia	1985	2004	168	260	10,927	51.06	32	50	37 years and 215 days	3 January 2003
13	Sunil Gavaskar [5] [21] ^		India	1971	1987	125	214	10,122	51.12	34	45	37 years and 240 days	7 March 1987
14	Younis Khan [5] [22]		Pakistan	2000	2017	118	213	10,099	52.05	34	33	39 years and 145 days	23 April 2017
References: [7] [5] Last updated : 2 July 2023

By country

10,000 or more runs by country in Tests

Teams	10,000 or more runs
Australia	3
India
England	2
Sri Lanka
West Indies
Pakistan	1
South Africa
Total	14

See also

• List of Test cricket records
• List of players who have scored 10,000 or more runs in One Day International cricket

References

1. Ugra, Sharda (24 December 2009). "1987-Gavaskar is the first to score 10,000 test runs: A 10 tonne toast". India Today . Archived from the original on 22 August 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
2. "Gary Sobers: Cricket's greatest genius". Rediff.com . 28 July 2010. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
3. "Third Test Match — India vs. England 1981–82". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack . Retrieved 22 August 2015.
4. Botham, Ian (15 September 2009). Head On — Ian Botham: The Autobiography. Random House. ISBN   978-0-091-92149-1.
5. "Records / Test matches / Batting records / Most runs in career". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 9 October 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
6. Finlay, Ric (29 October 2008). "Record-holders for most Test runs". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 22 July 2012. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
7. "Records / Test matches / Batting records / Fastest to 10000 runs". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved 31 May 2016.
8. "Joe Root: England batter passes 10,000 Test runs". BBC Sport. 5 June 2022. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
9. "Virat Kohli | Cricket Players and Officials". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 31 December 2011. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
10. "Ricky Ponting | Cricket Players and Officials". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 26 August 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
11. "Jacques Kallis | Cricket Players and Officials". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 22 August 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
12. "Rahul Dravid | Cricket Players and Officials". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 31 December 2011. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
13. "Alastair Cook | Cricket Players and Officials". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
14. "Kumar Sangakkara | Cricket Players and Officials". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 22 August 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
15. "Brian Lara | Cricket Players and Officials". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 8 September 2013. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
16. "Shivnarine Chanderpaul | Cricket Players and Officials". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
17. "Mahela Jayawardene | Cricket Players and Officials". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 24 August 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
18. "Joe Root | Cricket Players and Officials". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
19. "Allan Border | Cricket Players and Officials". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 1 August 2011. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
20. "Steve Waugh | Cricket Players and Officials". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
21. "Sunil Gavaskar | Cricket Players and Officials". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 16 August 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
22. "Younis Khan | Cricket Players and Officials". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 24 April 2017.