Most Runs for India in T20 World Cup: The Full List

Virat Kohli’s 1,292 is the most runs for India in T20 World Cup history and the most by anyone. The full India list, after a 2026 tournament that changed everything below the top two.

Virat Kohli’s 1,292 runs are the most any India batter has made at a men’s T20 World Cup, and the most anyone from any country has made. He played 35 matches across six editions between 2012 and 2024, averaged 58.72, and retired from T20 internationals after the 2024 final. Rohit Sharma, on 1,220, is second on both lists.

Neither played in 2026, and the tournament India won that March changed the list underneath them. Suryakumar Yadav moved past Yuvraj Singh into third. Sanju Samson batted five times, made 321 runs at a strike rate of just under 200, and put three innings into India’s all-time top six.

An India batter raises his bat and helmet after reaching a half-century under floodlights

Most runs for India in T20 World Cup history

Men’s tournament only, as at 21 August 2026.

Player	Span	Mat	Runs	Ave	SR	50s
Virat Kohli	2012–2024	35	1,292	58.72	128.81	15
Rohit Sharma	2007–2024	47	1,220	34.85	133.04	12
Suryakumar Yadav	2021–2026	27	722	36.10	150.73	6
Yuvraj Singh	2007–2016	31	593	23.72	128.91	4
Hardik Pandya	2016–2026	33	574	28.70	148.70	4
MS Dhoni	2007–2016	33	529	35.26	123.88	0
Gautam Gambhir	2007–2012	21	524	26.20	118.01	4
Suresh Raina	2009–2016	26	453	25.16	130.17	1
Shivam Dube	2024–2026	17	368	30.66	144.31	1
KL Rahul	2021–2022	11	322	32.20	138.19	5
Ishan Kishan	2021–2026	10	321	32.10	186.62	3
Sanju Samson	2026	5	321	80.25	199.37	3

Kishan and Samson are level on 321. Kishan took ten innings over five years to get there; Samson took five innings in four weeks.

Kohli’s record is not really about volume

Rohit Sharma played 47 T20 World Cup matches to Kohli’s 35 and finished 72 runs short. The gap is the average: 58.72 against 34.85, and 58.72 is not just India’s best — it is comfortably the highest of anyone in the tournament’s ten leading run-scorers, where the next best is Mahela Jayawardene’s 39.07.

Kohli was dismissed 22 times in 33 innings. Eleven not-outs in a format where the top order rarely survives is the whole story of the number, and it came from a particular job: bat through, take the chase deep, finish it. His 15 fifties are the most by an India batter, three more than Rohit, and he never converted one into a hundred.

His highest score, 89 not out from 47 balls against West Indies at the Wankhede in 2016, came in a semi-final India lost.

Sanju Samson’s five innings in 2026

Samson was not in the side when the 2026 tournament started. He batted for the first time in India’s second match, made 22 against Namibia at Delhi, and then 24 against Zimbabwe at Chepauk. That is 46 runs from two innings and no sign of what followed.

His last three innings were 97 not out against West Indies at Eden Gardens, 89 against England in the semi-final at the Wankhede, and 89 against New Zealand in the final at Ahmedabad — 275 runs in eight days, at the three stages of a tournament where it is hardest to make them. He finished as India’s leading scorer of the campaign with 321 from five innings, ahead of Ishan Kishan’s 317 from nine.

Three of those innings now sit second, fifth and sixth on India’s all-time list of T20 World Cup scores. Kohli also has three in that top ten, but they are spread across 2016 and 2022; no India batter had put three of them there in a single tournament before.

A packed floodlit cricket stadium seen from high in the stands during a night match

Highest individual scores by an India batter at a T20 World Cup

Score	Balls	Player	Opponent	Venue	Date
101	60	Suresh Raina	South Africa	Gros Islet	2 May 2010
97*	50	Sanju Samson	West Indies	Eden Gardens	1 Mar 2026
92	41	Rohit Sharma	Australia	Gros Islet	24 Jun 2024
89*	47	Virat Kohli	West Indies	Wankhede	31 Mar 2016
89	42	Sanju Samson	England	Wankhede	5 Mar 2026
89	46	Sanju Samson	New Zealand	Ahmedabad	8 Mar 2026
84*	49	Suryakumar Yadav	U.S.A.	Wankhede	7 Feb 2026
82*	51	Virat Kohli	Australia	Mohali	27 Mar 2016
82*	53	Virat Kohli	Pakistan	Melbourne	23 Oct 2022
79*	46	Rohit Sharma	Australia	Bridgetown	7 May 2010

Raina’s 101 against South Africa at Gros Islet in 2010 is the only hundred an India batter has made at a T20 World Cup, across ten editions. Samson’s 97 not out is the closest anyone has come since: India were chasing 196 at Eden Gardens and got there at 199 for 5 with four balls left.

MS Dhoni made 529 runs without a fifty

Dhoni is the only batter in India’s top ten who never passed fifty at a T20 World Cup. He played 33 matches across six editions, batted 29 times, was not out 14 of them, and his highest score is 45. The 529 runs are almost entirely made of twenties and thirties at the death, which is what the job was.

It is the clearest illustration on this page that a runs column ranks availability and role as much as it ranks batting. Gautam Gambhir made 524 in 21 matches opening; Dhoni made 529 in 33 coming in with six overs left.

Who is closest to Kohli now

Nobody, in practice. Kohli and Rohit have both finished, so the record is fixed at 1,292, and the leading India run-scorer still playing is Suryakumar Yadav on 722 — 570 short, at 27 matches to Kohli’s 35. Suryakumar’s own 2026 was modest by his standards, 242 runs at 30.25, but it was enough to carry him past Yuvraj Singh into third on the all-time India list.

Hardik Pandya, on 574 from 33 matches, is the only other active player above 500. Behind them, the interesting names are the small samples: Kishan at a strike rate of 186.62, Samson at 199.37, Abhishek Sharma at 158.42 from eight innings.

Common questions about India’s T20 World Cup run-scorers

Who has scored the most runs for India in T20 World Cup history? Virat Kohli, with 1,292 runs in 35 matches at an average of 58.72. It is also the all-time record across all teams.

Has any India batter scored a hundred at a T20 World Cup? Yes, once. Suresh Raina made 101 from 60 balls against South Africa at Gros Islet on 2 May 2010, and no India batter has done it since.

Who scored the most runs for India at the 2026 T20 World Cup? Sanju Samson, with 321 runs from five innings at a strike rate of 199.37, including 89 in the semi-final and 89 in the final.

How many fifties has Virat Kohli scored at T20 World Cups? Fifteen, the most by any India batter and three more than Rohit Sharma. He has never made a hundred at the tournament.

Who is India’s leading T20 World Cup run-scorer still playing? Suryakumar Yadav, on 722 runs from 27 matches. Kohli and Rohit both retired from T20 internationals after the 2024 final.

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Photo credit: Indranil MUKHERJEE / AFP

Most runs for India in T20 World Cup: Kohli 1,292, and how 2026 reshuffled the rest