The Indian Premier League (IPL) has seen batters rule the roost, scoring truckloads of runs. Some batters have had great success while batting in a particular position, outclassing their peers.
It is the top-order batters who have flourished the most, as they get the maximum opportunities to garner runs. However, some lower-order batters have also scored significant chunks of runs, showing their batting skills.
On that note, let’s look at the list of batters with the most runs at each batting position in IPL history.
Most Runs at Each Batting Position in IPL
| Position/No. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opener | Shikhar Dhawan – 6362 | David Warner – 5910 | Virat Kohli – 5009 | Chris Gayle – 4480 | KL Rahul – 4418 |
| No. 3 | Suresh Raina – 4934 | Sanju Samson – 3096 | Virat Kohli – 2815 | AB de Villiers – 2188 | Manish Pandey – 1942 |
| No. 4 | Rohit Sharma – 2392 | Rishabh Pant – 2012 | AB de Villiers – 1956 | Yuvraj Singh – 1605 | MS Dhoni – 1560 |
| No. 5 | David Miller – 2002 | MS Dhoni – 1982 | Dinesh Karthik – 1370 | Kieron Pollard – 1204 | Yusuf Pathan – 1201 |
| No. 6 | Kieron Pollard – 1372 | Ravindra Jadeja – 1283 | MS Dhoni – 990 | Dinesh Karthik – 954 | Hardik Pandya – 797 |
| No. 7 | Andre Russell – 890 | Axar Patel – 862 | Ravindra Jadeja – 674 | Abdul Samad – 509 | Krunal Pandya – 448 |
| No. 8 | Harbhajan Singh – 406 | Rashid Khan – 382 | Piyush Chawla – 346 | Pat Cummins – 329 | MS Dhoni – 236 |
| No. 9 | Bhuvneshwar Kumar – 232 | Kuldeep Yadav – 126 | Vinay Kumar – 123 | Praveen Kumar – 118 | Piyush Chawla – 117 |
| No. 10 | Praveen Kumar – 86 | Umesh Yadav – 84 | Dhawal Kulkarni – 75 | Mohammed Siraj – 69 | Kagiso Rabada – 52 |
| No. 11 | Sandeep Sharma – 37 | Mohammed Siraj – 30 | Munaf Patel – 30 | Siddharth Trivedi – 25 | Dale Steyn – 22 |
Key Insights
Shikhar Dhawan has scored the most runs as an opener in the IPL, with over 6300 runs to his name.
Virat Kohli, Jos Buttler, and Chris Gayle have notched up five or more centuries while batting as openers in the IPL.
Suresh Raina sits at the top with the most runs (4934) and the most 50+ scores (38) in the No. 3 slot.
Yusuf Pathan, David Miller, and Ben Stokes are the only three batters to score a century while coming to bat at the No. 5 or lower position. Pathan’s 37-ball hundred is the fastest by an Indian player in the IPL.
MS Dhoni and Miller are the only two batters with a 40+ average and a 140+ strike rate while batting in the No. 5 slot.
Kieron Pollard, who has scored the most runs at No. 6 (1372), has also smashed the most fifties (nine) in the same position.
Andre Russell and Hardik Pandya strike above 180 while scoring runs in the No. 6 position.
Only Russell has scored five or more half-centuries, along with an average of 35+ and a strike rate of 170+ while playing at No. 7 in the IPL.
Rashid Khan’s 79 not out against Mumbai in 2023 is the highest score by a batter at No. 8 in the IPL.
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