Top 5 Highest Run Scorers In Asia Cup History: We are less than a month away from the start of the ACC Asia Cup 2025. It is the premier continental international cricket tournament in the world, with some of the best and most competitive national team squads in the sport.
This competition, first started in 1984, will be 41 years old this year. On occasion, it has become one of the most controversial competitions in world sport due to tensions between countries in this region. The upcoming edition of the Asia Cup is one of the most contentious ones yet, seeing the recent scuffle between India and Pakistan, two giants of the sport and two of the biggest countries in the competition.
However, today’s discussion will stray away from the real-life politics and consequences of the ACC Asia Cup 2025 and will instead focus on the long and storied past of this competition.
With Asian countries known to produce some of the greatest batters of all time, it is only natural that a lot of legendary batsmen have featured in this tournament and have done well. So today, we will look at the five highest run scorers in the history of this contest.
Here are the top 5 highest run scorers in Asia Cup history:
Top 5 Highest Run Scorers In Asia Cup History
5) Sachin Tendulkar – 971 runs
Arguably the greatest batter of all time and a two-time Asia Cup winner, Sachin Tendulkar nigh on carried the Indian Cricket Team throughout the 90s. That includes the team’s underwhelming campaigns in the competition in the latter half of this decade and the whole of the 2000s.
Sachin played six campaigns of the Asia Cup from 1995 to 2010, bookending this era with series wins. In the 21 matches he played in this time, all of which were ODIs, Tendulkar scored 971 runs at an average of 51.10, making seven half-centuries and two tons along the way.
Check Out: Top 5 Highest Run Scorers In Asia Cup History
4) Kumar Sangakkara – 1075 runs
The Sri Lankan legend was one of the best batters of his generation and also arguably the most elegant. His name is synonymous with Sri Lankan dominance in the 2000s, a time during which the Lankan Lions became the strongest team in Asia, winning three out of four Asia Cups from 1997 to 2008.
The three-time Asia Cup winner played 23 matches in the competition, all in its ODI format, and made 1075 runs at an average of 48.86, making four centuries and eight half-centuries along the way.
3) Virat Kohli – 1171 runs
Virat Kohli is the first person on this list who played in both the ODI and the T20I formats of the Asia Cup. The face of the sport for an entire generation, Kohli, at times, led the Indian Cricket Team that dominated world cricket in the 2010s but failed to win any major trophy. But one trophy India won multiple times during that time was the Asia Cup, which Kohli has won thrice.
In the six editions he played in (missing the 2018 ODI one), Virat has scored 1171 runs in 22 matches, of which 742 have come in 13 ODIs, and 429 have come in nine T20Is. Kohli is the highest run scorer in the T20 version of this tournament. His overall average in the Asia Cup has been staggeringly high at 68.8, with him making four half-centuries and five tons along the way.
2) Rohit Sharma – 1210 runs
Yet another player who played in the ODI and T20I formats of this competition. He also captained the Indian Cricket Team in its most recent campaigns of the Asia Cup. He might be the most prolific player in the history of this tournament, having played in a whopping eight editions.
Rohit started his Asia Cup journey in 2008 and has played in every iteration of it since. In the ODIs, he has played 26 matches and scored 939 runs with an average of 46.95. Meanwhile, in T20Is, he scored 271 runs in nine matches at an average of 30.11. Overall, in 35 matches, Sharma scored 1210 runs in the Asia Cup at an average of 41.7 with 11 half-centuries and a ton along the way. He has also won the tournament four times.
1) Sanath Jayasuriya – 1220 runs
The face of explosive batting in the 90s and the 2000s, Sanath Jayasuriya is considered by some as the greatest Sri Lankan cricketer of all time. Having started his career as a spinner, Sanath remained a solid bowling option throughout his career but blossomed as an aggressive opener known for scoring massive runs.
Jayasuriya played six editions of the Asia Cup from 1990 to 2008, winning three of them, all of them being in the ODI format. In these six tournaments, the Sri Lankan great made a staggering 1220 runs in just 24 matches at an average of 53.04. He scored three half-centuries and six 100s along the way, the most for any player in this competition.
Check Out: Top 5 Highest Run Scorers In Asia Cup History
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