The air around the Indian Premier League 2024 season has started to brew heavily as we are less than two months away from the first ball of the marquee tournament. The IPL is the world’s best T20 league, where players from all across the globe come and play for almost two and a half months because performing in the IPL gives them fame and recognition in world cricket. In this post lets have a look at the batsman with most runs in IPL since the inaugural season.
A good innings in an IPL match or a sensational spell can make any player an overnight star in international cricket and also get him a call-up to his respective national cricket team. Scoring runs in the Indian Premier League is never an easy task as you face world-class bowlers and gun fielders who do not give away anything on the field.
Hence, here we are going to have a look at the batters who have scored the most runs in the IPL. These are the players who have been orange cap holders for a long time in the league and have won the orange cap at least once, which is given to the best batter in the league. Below are the top 10 IPL run scorers who have been an asset for their respective franchises in the tournament over the years.
Batsman with Most Runs in IPL
Virat Kohli (7263 runs), Shikhar Dhawan (6617 runs), David Warner (6397 runs), Rohit Sharma (6211 runs), Suresh Raina (5528 runs), Ab de Villiers (5162 runs), MS Dhoni (5082), Chris Gayle (4965 runs), Robin Uthappa (4952 runs) and Dinesh Karthik (4516 runs) are the top 10 batsman with most runs in IPL.
1. Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli, arguably the best batter in the history of world cricket, is without a doubt the most prolific run-scorer in Indian Premier League history. Kohli is the only player to have played for only one franchise in the Indian Premier League since his debut, the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Kohli has batted in 229 innings in the IPL for his beloved franchise, scoring a record 7263 runs.
He is the only batter to cross the 7,000-run mark in the tournament’s 16-year history. He has seven centuries in the Indian Premier League with RCB, the most runs by any batter in the IPL. Virat Kohli’s best IPL season was in 2016, when he took the league by storm and scored 973 runs in just one season.
2. Shikhar Dhawan
The second-best batter in the history of the Indian Premier League is Shikhar Dhawan, the stylish left-handed opener who has been an IPL legend. Dhawan’s journey in this league started with the Delhi team, then he moved to the Mumbai Indians, went to play for the Deccan Chargers, then the Sunrisers Hyderabad, went to the Delhi Capitals once again, and currently leads the Punjab Kings side.
Shikhar Dhawan has scored 6617 runs in the tournament over the years in 217 matches that he has played. His highest score is 106* and he has an impressive average of almost 35. Shikhar Dhawan holds the record for scoring the most number of fours by any batter in the Indian Premier League (750 boundaries).
3. David Warner
Another swashbuckling left-handed opener on this list is David Warner, who is a legend of the game of cricket, both for his country and the IPL. Warner is among the top overseas players that have played for any franchise in the Indian Premier League. Warner has played for the Delhi Capitals as well as the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the tournament.
David Warner has 6397 runs to his name in almost 176 matches where he has stayed not out 22 times, which is a fantastic record for an opener. The Australian southpaw has an average of 41.53 in the IPL along with an excellent strike rate of almost 140. Warner has won the orange cap a record three times.
4. Rohit Sharma
The next batter on our list of highest run-scorers in the Indian Premier League is the current Indian captain, Rohit Sharma, who is another legend of this cricketing extravaganza and the best cricket league in the world. The opening batter, who is known for his exquisite pull shot and taking on the bowlers in any situation, started his IPL journey with the Deccan Chargers but moved to the Mumbai Indians in 2011 and has been there since then.
Rohit is another batter who has more than 6,000 runs (6,211) in the league in 243 matches. His highest score in the league is 109*. He has not won the orange cap, but his innings have always been influential and directly proportional to his team’s success.
5. Suresh Raina
The batter who is in the fifth position on this list of the highest run scorers in the IPL is Suresh Raina, who is a left-handed top-order batter and an IPL legend by all means. Raina’s inside-out shot against the spinners as well as the fast bowlers is probably the most beautiful thing ever to exist. Raina has played for two teams in his career: the Chennai Super Kings and the Gujarat Lions.
Raina has recorded 5528 runs against his name in IPL history in exactly 200 innings. Suresh Raina is among the very few batters who have scored 500+ fours as well as 200+ sixes in the tournament. Raina played his last match in the IPL in 2021 for the CSK team.
6. Ab de Villiers
Popularly known as the alien of cricket, or Mr. 360, the next player on our list is Abraham Benjamin de Villiers. De Villiers lit up the IPL for almost 13 years, with his mind blowing innings every now and then from 2008 until 2021. He started his career with the Delhi team but moved to the Royal Challengers Bangalore later and played his last match for them only.
Ab de Villiers has scored 5162 runs in the IPL in almost 170 innings. He batted at almost every position in the top order as well as the middle order and was a lifesaver for the Bangalore team. He ended his IPL career with a strike rate of almost 152.
7. M.S. Dhoni
The wicket-keeper batter, the legend of Indian cricket, and one of the best wicket-keepers, captains, and finishers in the cricketing world, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, is next on our list. Dhoni has played for two teams in total, the Chennai Super Kings and the Rising Pune SuperGiants, and has played almost all the matches as a captain.
The keeper-batter has scored 5082 runs in IPL history, which is a remarkable achievement considering he has batted in the middle order for the majority of his career. He has an average of 38.79 in the tournament and currently captains the Chennai Super Kings side.
8. Chris Gayle
The most dangerous T20 batter and probably one of the best overseas players in the history of the Indian Premier League, Chris Gayle, is next on our list. Gayle has played for a lot of teams in the IPL, such as the Kolkata Knight Riders, Punjab Kings, or Kings XI Punjab, and the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Chris Gayle has scored 4965 runs in just 141 innings in the Indian Premier League at a strike rate of almost 150 and an average of 39.72. He has won the orange cap two times in history, both times playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Gayle holds the record for the individual highest score in the IPL (175*).
9. Robin Uthappa
Another IPL legend on this list is Robin Uthappa, who has scored a lot of runs in this particular league over the years. Uthappa started his IPL journey in 2008 and retired from the league after the 2022 season. Robin has played for teams like the Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians, Pune Warriors India, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and the Rajasthan Royals.
Uthappa has scored 4952 runs in the tournament in 205 matches, batting in the top order for every franchise that he has played for. His highest score in the IPL is 88, and he has also won the orange cap.
10. Dinesh Kartik
Dinesh Kartik, who started playing in the IPL in 2008, is still a part of the league and will feature in the 2024 season wearing the jersey of the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Dinesh Kartik has played for the Delhi team, Chennai team, Kolkata team, Mumbai team, as well as the Gujarat Lions team in the tournament’s history.
Kartik, another middle-order Indian batter, has scored 4516 runs in the league in the 221 matches that he has been a part of. Dinesh Kartik’s highest score in the Indian Premier League is 97*, and he has batted with a strike rate of almost 133 in his IPL career.
 he has scored 7263 runs in 237 matches in the IPL){kind=link}