Top 5 run-scorers in T20 World Cup

The T20 World Cup 2024 is only a week away from us as all the teams gear themselves up for the marquee tournament. The preparations are in full swing as a few teams are playing bilateral series to prepare, whereas a lot of players have just competed in the Indian Premier League and look all set to set the T20 World Cup 2024 on fire.

In the shortest format of the game, the importance of scoring big runs cannot be underlined, as teams must put runs on the board so they have something to defend and win a T20 game. Over the years in the history of the T20 World Cup, some phenomenal batters have risen to the occasion and scored runs for their respective teams. Let us have a look at the top five highest run-scorers in the history of the T20 World Cup.

S. No.	Player	Team	Matches	Runs
1	Virat Kohli	India	27	1141
2	Mahela Jayawardene	Sri Lanka	31	1016
3	Chris Gayle	West Indies	33	965
4	Rohit Sharma	India	39	963
5	Tillakaratne Dilshan	Sri Lanka	35	897

Virat Kohli (India)

Virat Kohli, the best batter in world cricket, has scored the most runs in the history of the T20 World Cup in very few matches as compared to the players behind him. Since September 19, 2012, the day Virat Kohli debuted against Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup and won the Player of the Match award, he has lit up the T20 World Cup’s every edition.

Kohli has 1141 runs to his name in 27 matches at an astonishing average of 81.50 with the help of 14 fifties. Although he has played a lot of match-winning and memorable knocks in the tournament, his best innings came in the 2022 T20 World Cup against Pakistan. In that match, Virat Kohli scored an unbeaten 82 runs off 53 balls and won out of nowhere. Kohli hit the two best sixes ever hit in the world of cricket in that match against Haris Rauf.

Virat Kohli is coming of a phenomenal 2024 IPL season where he finished as the leading run-scorer in the tournament and won the orange cap. Kohli has also been India’s leading run-scorer in the last four T20 World Cups that India has played and also won player of the tournament award in the 2014 and 2016 T20 World Cups. The probability of Virat Kohli leading the charge for India with the bat and finishing the tournament as the leading run-scorer is 79% and the betting odds from the top cricket betting sites are also in favour of the run-machine.

Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka)

The only other player in the history of the T20 World Cup to have scored more than 1000 runs than Virat Kohli is Mahela Jayawardene, who made his T20 World Cup debut in the year 2007 in a match against Kenya. He was the captain of the Sri Lankan T20 team back then and had a sensational debut match where his team created history.

Jayawardene has a total of 1016 runs to his name in T20 World Cup history in 31 matches. His average is 39.07, and he has hit the most fours as well (111). Jayawardene’s best inning so far in the history of the tournament is his century. On May 3, 2010, Mahela Jayawardene created history in the T20 World Cup match against Zimbabwe as he scored a fantastic century and became the first Sri Lankan player ever to do so. His inning of 100 runs in 64 balls helped Sri Lanka secure an easy win.

Chris Gayle (West Indies)

Chris Gayle, one of the most prolific batters in T20 cricket and a player who used to hit sixes at will during his career, is next on the list. Gayle made his T20 World Cup debut in 2007 against South Africa, and his debut match itself showed everyone why he is feared by the bowlers.

His best inning in T20 World Cup history came in his debut match, where he scored a phenomenal century and put life into the tournament. He played an inning of 117 runs on just 57 balls, hitting ten huge sixes and seven boundaries. Gayle ended his T20 World Cup career with 965 runs in 33 matches at a strike rate of 142.75 and two brilliant centuries, the most by any player thus far.

Rohit Sharma (India)

Rohit Sharma, who is one of the only two players to have played all the editions of the T20 World Cup so far, also made his debut in 2007. His debut match was against England, where he did not get a chance to bat, but when he did get one, he showed everyone why he was given that chance at such a young age with his exquisite timing and stroke play.

The Indian captain has a total of 963 runs to his name in the T20 World Cup thus far and will be eyeing the 1000-run mark in the forthcoming tournament the betting odds of Rohit Sharma scoring the most runs in the tournament are high as he has had a good couple of outings in the last two tours to West Indies. His best innings in T20 World Cup history came in a losing cause, as Rohit was the lone warrior with his exceptional innings of 79* runs in 46 balls from the Indian team when they were chasing Australia’s 184 in 2010 at the Kensington Oval.

Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka)

Dilshan made his T20 World Cup debut for Sri Lanka in the 2007 T20 World Cup. Dilshan has scored a total of 897 runs in the tournament in 35 matches, at an average of almost 31. Tillkaratne Dilshan has 101 boundaries to his name in the tournament’s history. Dilshan’s best innings in the history of the tournament came in 2009 against the West Indies. He played an invaluable knock of 96* runs in 57 balls and bailed Sri Lanka out of a difficult situation. That knock by him was named the T20I batting performance of the year by the ICC.

Batsman to Watch out for in the 2024 T20 World Cup

These are the top five run-scorers in the history of the T20 World Cup. With the 2024 T20 World Cup just about to begin, there are a lot of batters who are in top form and can be a real threat to the bowlers. Some of the batters to watch out for in the coming tournament are Travis Head (Australia), Virat Kohli (India), Will Jacks (England), Nicholas Pooran (West Indies), Suryakumar Yadav (India), Heinrich Klaasen (South Africa), Finn Allen (New Zealand), and Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan). There are a lot of other talented batters too who can create havoc with their willows in the tournament, but these few are special players and can be threatening. Do check out the best betting tips for the upcoming T20 World Cup along with the top batsman, top bowler and player of the match predictions.