Most runs in Asia Cup history: Jayasuriya 1,220, Rohit Sharma 10 behind
Sanath Jayasuriya has the most runs in Asia Cup history, 1,220 across the ODI and T20 editions. Rohit Sharma is 10 runs behind on 1,210 and Virat Kohli third on 1,171.
Aug 13, 2022 · Updated Sep 10, 2026
Sanath Jayasuriya has scored more runs in the Asia Cup than anyone: 1,220 in 25 matches between 1990 and 2008. Eighteen years after his last Asia Cup innings, the record is finally under threat.
Rohit Sharma is 10 runs behind on 1,210, and Virat Kohli is third on 1,171. Neither figure existed when this list was last a Sri Lankan procession — both India batters have added heavily since 2022, most of it in the Twenty20 editions.
Most runs in Asia Cup history
The Asia Cup has been played in both 50-over and Twenty20 formats, and these totals combine the two. Complete to 10 September 2026, after the 2025 edition. Source: ESPNcricinfo.
| Rank | Player | Team | Span | Matches | ODI runs | T20 runs | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sanath Jayasuriya | Sri Lanka | 1990-2008 | 25 | 1220 | 0 | 1220 |
| 2 | Rohit Sharma | India | 2008-2023 | 37 | 939 | 271 | 1210 |
| 3 | Virat Kohli | India | 2010-2023 | 26 | 742 | 429 | 1171 |
| 4 | Kumar Sangakkara | Sri Lanka | 2004-2014 | 24 | 1075 | 0 | 1075 |
| 5 | Sachin Tendulkar | India | 1990-2012 | 23 | 971 | 0 | 971 |
| 6 | Shoaib Malik | Pakistan | 2000-2018 | 21 | 786 | 121 | 907 |
| 7 | Mushfiqur Rahim | Bangladesh | 2008-2023 | 32 | 830 | 45 | 875 |
| 8 | Arjuna Ranatunga | Sri Lanka | 1984-1997 | 19 | 741 | 0 | 741 |
| 9 | MS Dhoni | India | 2008-2018 | 24 | 648 | 42 | 690 |
| 10 | Shakib Al Hasan | Bangladesh | 2010-2023 | 25 | 575 | 112 | 687 |
Why the totals combine two formats
The Asia Cup changes format to match the World Cup that follows it. Every edition from 1984 to 2014 was a 50-over tournament; 2016 and 2022 were Twenty20, 2018 and 2023 went back to ODIs, and the 2025 edition was T20 again. ESPNcricinfo keeps the two as separate records, which is why a single “most runs in the Asia Cup” figure has to be added up.
It matters for the top of the list. Jayasuriya, Sangakkara, Tendulkar and Ranatunga never played a T20 Asia Cup; their totals are pure 50-over runs. Rohit and Kohli have played four T20 Asia Cup editions between them, and that is most of the ground they have made up.
Sanath Jayasuriya’s 1,220
Jayasuriya averaged 53.04 in the Asia Cup at a strike rate of 102.52, with six hundreds and three fifties — more hundreds than anyone else has managed in the tournament.
His best was his last. In 2008 he made 378 runs in five matches at 75.60, striking at 126, with two hundreds and a fifty, and finished as the edition’s leading scorer. He had made 204 in four matches in 1997 and 293 in five in 2004; Sri Lanka won the title in all three of those years.
Rohit Sharma, 10 runs short
Rohit has played more Asia Cup matches than anyone in the top ten — 37, across 28 ODIs and nine T20 internationals — and has needed them. His 1,210 runs come with one hundred and 11 fifties, the most fifties anyone has made in the tournament, and a highest score of 111 not out.
He did not play the 2025 edition, so the gap to Jayasuriya still stands at 10.
Virat Kohli and the T20 record
Kohli holds the highest individual score in Asia Cup history in either format: 183 from 148 balls against Pakistan at Mirpur on 18 March 2012. It is one of only two scores above 150 in the tournament, and he has five hundreds in 26 matches, one behind Jayasuriya.
His 429 runs in the T20 Asia Cup, at an average of 85.80, are second on that format’s list — five behind Pathum Nissanka’s 434, and Nissanka is still playing. Kohli’s include 122 not out from 61 balls against Afghanistan at Dubai in 2022.
Sachin Tendulkar, and the century that mattered
Tendulkar made 971 Asia Cup runs in 23 matches at 51.10, all of them in 50-over editions between 1990 and 2012, with two hundreds and seven fifties.
He led the scoring in 1995 with 205 runs in four matches at 68.33. And it was at the 2012 Asia Cup, against Bangladesh at Mirpur, that he reached his 100th international century.
The 2025 edition
The most recent Asia Cup was a Twenty20 tournament, and its leading scorer was Abhishek Sharma with 314 runs in seven matches — at a strike rate of exactly 200, with three fifties and 19 sixes. Pathum Nissanka made 261 in six, including a hundred, and Tilak Varma 213 in seven.
None of them is on the all-time list yet. Abhishek’s 314 is a single edition’s work; Jayasuriya needed 25 matches for his 1,220.
Indians with the most Asia Cup runs
After Rohit, Kohli and Tendulkar come MS Dhoni on 690, then Shikhar Dhawan on 613, Suresh Raina on 586 and Gautam Gambhir on 573.
Most runs in Asia Cup: quick answers
Who has the most runs in Asia Cup history? Sanath Jayasuriya, with 1,220.
Which Indian has the most? Rohit Sharma, with 1,210 — 10 short of the record.
Who has the most hundreds? Jayasuriya, with six. The highest score is Virat Kohli’s 183.
Who has scored the most in the T20 Asia Cup? Pathum Nissanka, with 434 runs. Virat Kohli is next on 429.
Who was the leading scorer in 2025? Abhishek Sharma, with 314 runs at a strike rate of 200.
See also our lists of the most centuries in ODI cricket and the fastest to 1000 runs in ODI cricket.
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Featured photo: MUNIR UZ ZAMAN / AFP