There’s nothing bigger and grander in cricket than the ICC World Cup which takes place once in four years, and is contested by the best cricketing nations in the world. Winning a World Cup is the pinnacle of a cricketer’s career and they often bring out their best game when it comes to this competition. Similarly, some of the best batsmen in the world have achieved greatness across multiple editions of the ODI World Cup.
On this page, we’re going to be looking at the ODI World Cup best batsmen, in particular by the amount of runs scored over their respective World Cup careers. If lucky and fitness levels are good, some players get to participate in 3 or even 4 ICC World Cup editions through their career, while some extraordinary cricketers have even played 5 and 6 editions each. Keep reading for our ODI World Cup most runs list…
ODI World Cup top run-scorers list
Topping the ICC World Cup highest run scorers list is none other than Indian batting legend, Sachin Tendulkar, who is the only cricketer with 2,000+ career runs in this tournament. He’s the only Indian on the list and we don’t honestly see his World Cup run scoring record being surpassed. See below for our ODI World Cup highest run scorers list, last updated on 24th September 2023, before the start of ICC World Cup 2023:
| Batsman | Career span | Runs (Matches) | 50s/100s | High Score |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 1992-2011 | 2,278 (45) | 15 / 6 | 152 |
| Ricky Ponting | 1996-2011 | 1,743 (46) | 6 / 5 | 140* |
| Kumar Sangakkara | 2003-2015 | 1,532 (37) | 7 / 5 | 124 |
| Brian Lara | 1992-2007 | 1,225 (34) | 7 / 2 | 116 |
| AB de Villiers | 2007-2015 | 1,207 (23) | 6 / 4 | 162* |
| Chris Gayle | 2003-2019 | 1,186 (35) | 6 / 2 | 215 |
| Sanath Jayasuriya | 1992-2007 | 1,165 (38) | 6 / 3 | 120 |
| Jacques Kallis | 1996-2011 | 1,148 (36) | 9 / 1 | 128* |
| Shakib al Hasan | 2007-2019 | 1,146 (29) | 10 / 2 | 124* |
| Tillakaratne Dilshan | 2007-2015 | 1,112 (27) | 4 / 4 | 161* |
Sachin holds multiple records from those on this ODI World Cup run-scorers list, including the joint record for most number of centuries (6) and the most number of fifties (15) as well. Only India’s Rohit Sharma has equalled Sachin for most ODI World Cup centuries, with 6 to his name too, and a chance to go past the batting legend in the ICC World Cup 2023 which is taking place in India itself.
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Only two players on this list participated in three editions, and those are AB de Villiers and Tillakaratne Dilshan, so it’s quite an effort for them to still feature here. From them, de Villiers holds the record for the best average in the ODI World Cup, smashing 1,200+ runs at an average of 63.52. After him, the next best batting averages are of Tendulkar, Dilshan, and Sangakkara, all in the fifties.
A special mention needs to be made for Shakib al Hasan, who is the only active cricketer on this list, and who also features just outside the top 10 of the ODI World Cup most wickets list. Shakib is second to Tendulkar in terms of ODI World Cup fifties (10), and he has a chance to climb a few spots on the ICC World Cup highest run scorers list in the 2023 edition, and go past Kallis, Jayasuriya, Gayle, de Villiers, and Lara.
Those to have narrowly missed out on the top 10 of the ICC World Cup most runs list include Mahela Jayawardene, Adam Gilchrist, Javed Miandad, Stephen Fleming, ad Herschelle Gibbs. For more updates on ICC World Cup 2023 and on overall cricketing updates from around the world, stay tuned to ReadScoops.com…
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