Okay so this whole comparison itch started when I was just scrolling through cricket stuff online, kinda bored, you know? Saw someone arguing about who’s the real run king across formats. Like, ODI smasher vs Test marathoner. Got me thinking, who actually tops both lists? Figured it’d be Virat Kohli everywhere, right? Easy peasy.
Pulled up my laptop. First thing, opened a search engine. Typed in something like “most runs in odi cricket all time”. Hit enter. Expected Kohli right at the top. BAM. Sachin Tendulkar pops up. Oh yeah, right, the Master Blaster. Forgot how massive those numbers were. Like 18,000 something runs. Wild. Wrote that down.
Next tab. “most runs in test cricket all time”. Search. Again, figured Kohli must be climbing. Nope. Wait a sec… Sachin AGAIN? Yeah. Over 15,000 Test runs. Okay, so he dominates both? Simple answer then?
But I remembered someone mentioning like… total runs combined. Across all international? Or was that something else? Decided to dig deeper. Searched specifically for “players with most runs in both odi and test”. Now things got messy.
- Panic Tabs: Opened like 5 tabs trying different websites for stats. Cricinfo, some others. Numbers don’t always match exactly! Drives me nuts. Like, are we counting retirements? Who knows. Just went with the usual sites.
- The List: Okay, so Sachin is obviously kingpin on both counts individually. For the combined run tally… same story! Look at this:
Sachin Tendulkar: ODI runs + Test runs = Over 34,000 runs. Absurd number. Just insane.
- Kumar Sangakkara: Pretty close behind Sachin overall? Man, he piled them on too. Great player.
- Ricky Ponting: Yeah, Punter up there. Expected nothing less.
- Virat Kohli: Okay, here he is. Massive in ODIs already (like second?), and still climbing fast in Tests too. He’ll probably pass some of these legends eventually. Needs more Tests though.
- Jacques Kallis: Forgot how many runs the man scored! Pure all-rounder beast.
So what did I learn? Besides the fact my initial “it’s all Kohli” guess was kinda rubbish?
Sachin Tendulkar isn’t just a legend. He’s basically the definition of run-machine across formats. Top of ODIs. Top of Tests. Top of the combined pile. For now. Virat’s chasing hard, especially in ODIs. But Sachin’s Test lead is pretty huge still.
And Sangakkara! Man, the guy was quietly racking up runs everywhere. People sometimes forget how good he was.
Just spending an hour going down this rabbit hole was fun. Started with a simple question, opened too many tabs, found different numbers, but in the end, it paints a clear picture. Sachin’s domination in total runs is just… wow. Respect. Makes you appreciate the sheer longevity and hunger. Virat’s the modern king, sure, but the original run mountain is still standing pretty tall. Remember what I said about Kohli needing time? Yeah. Long way to go yet.
Moral: Never underestimate Tendulkar’s stats. Ever. Just mind-blowing.
