When you talk about the T20 format of cricket, you visualize big hitting and massive sixes. You think of thick willow bats and healthy strike rates. In short, the T20 form is very much a batsman’s game even though rules are always being made to balance it out. Here, we’re going to cover the highest run scorers list in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL), India’s premier T20 tournament.
Regardless of which franchise they play for, there have been some batters who have scored in every edition of the IPL, which has brought them on to the list of highest all-time run scorers in IPL history. With it being an Indian tournament, most of the players in the top 10 IPL run scorers list are Indians, but it’s good to see some overseas professionals in the mix as well.
IPL top run scorers list
It’s no surprise to see Virat Kohli topping the list as the player with the most runs in IPL history. He’s been at the top for a while, and we don’t see him being replaced for many seasons to come as well. From players on the IPL most runs list, Kohli has 8,252 runs in 258 IPL games and he’s also the only one on this list to have played for a single franchise all through his IPL career.
MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina would’ve also represented only a single franchise but they spent 2 years in other teams when CSK was banned from the IPL. The overseas players on the list include David Warner, AB de Villiers, and Chris Gayle, all having dropped a few spots because they no longer play in the IPL. See below for our top 10 IPL run scorers list, last updated as of 18th April 2025, during the IPL 2025 season:
| Batter | Runs | Matches | Teams | High Score |
| Virat Kohli 🇮🇳 | 8,252 | 258 | Bangalore | 113* |
| Shikhar Dhawan 🇮🇳 | 6,769 | 222 | Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Punjab | 106* |
| Rohit Sharma 🇮🇳 | 6,710 | 263 | Hyderabad, Mumbai | 109* |
| David Warner 🇦🇺 | 6,565 | 184 | Delhi, Hyderabad | 126 |
| Suresh Raina 🇮🇳 | 5,528 | 205 | Chennai, Gujarat | 100* |
| MS Dhoni 🇮🇳 | 5,373 | 271 | Chennai, Pune | 84* |
| AB de Villiers 🇿🇦 | 5,162 | 184 | Delhi, Bangalore | 133* |
| Chris Gayle 🌴 | 4,965 | 142 | Punjab, Kolkata, Bangalore | 175* |
| Robin Uthappa 🇮🇳 | 4,952 | 205 | Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Rajasthan, Bangalore | 88 |
| KL Rahul 🇮🇳 | 4,921 | 137 | Delhi, Punjab, Lucknow, Bangalore, Hyderabad | 132* |
5) Suresh Raina
They used to call him Mr. IPL as this former Team India batsman never missed a single IPL match for a number of years. As his international career dwindled off, Raina’s run-scoring in IPL took a hit which let him slip from the top spot of all-time IPL run scorers a few seasons ago. He ended his IPL career with 5,528 runs in 205 matches which included 39 fifties and a best of 100*. Missing the IPL 2020 season didn’t help his cause on this list while a poor IPL 2021 season meant the end of his IPL career!
4) David Warner
The only overseas player in the top IPL run scorers list, David Warner has been the most consistent run scorer in the Indian Premier League and has 6,565 runs in only 184 games, batting at an average of 40.52 which is second to only KL Rahul on this list. While he has played for the Delhi Daredevils, a majority of his IPL runs came for Sunrisers Hyderabad and he also holds the record for most IPL fifties – 62 fifties, to go with 4 centuries! He moved back to Delhi Capitals after a controversy with SRH in IPL 2021.
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3) Rohit Sharma
The current Indian captain, Rohit Sharma has a very illustrious record with centuries in all forms of the game in international cricket, so it’s only fair he has some IPL records as well. Having started his IPL career with the now defunct Deccan Chargers, Rohit moved to Mumbai Indians and has been there ever since. With 6,710 runs in 263 IPL matches, he scores at a strike rate of 131+ and has 43 fifties and 2 centuries in this competition.
2) Shikhar Dhawan
From the now defunct Deccan Chargers to Mumbai Indians to Delhi Daredevils to Sunrisers Hyderabad to Delhi Capitals and the Punjab Kings, Shikhar Dhawan has played for 6 different IPL franchises and has delivered for each and every one of them. The southpaw brings a lot of international experience with him and has 6,769 runs in 222 games in his IPL career, which includes 2 centuries and 51 fifties. He had 450+ runs in all his last seven IPL seasons and climbed from #5 straight to #2 after IPL 2021.
1) Virat Kohli
Having played out an entire career only at a single franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore, Virat Kohli grew from strength to strength every season of the IPL and is atop the list of all-time run scorers in this tournament, with 8,252 runs to his name in 258 career matches. He holds the records for the most aggregate runs in a single season (973 runs in IPL 2016) and also most centuries in the IPL (8 tons) to go with 58 fifties. The only thing he doesn’t have to his name in this tournament is an IPL winner’s trophy!
– IPL 2020 – 466 runs
– IPL 2021 – 405 runs
– IPL 2022 – 341 runs
– IPL 2023 – 639 runs
– IPL 2024 – 741 runsHow many runs will Virat Kohli score in IPL 2025 @RCBTweets @imVkohli @IPL #IPL2025 #TATAIPL2025 #TATAIPL #ViratKohli
— Read Scoops (@ReadScoops) April 17, 2025
FAQs on IPL top run scorers
Q. Who is the No 1 run scorer in IPL?
Ans. As you can see above, Virat Kohli is the number #1 run scorer in IPL history, currently having 8,252 runs in the tournament. No one is even close to him as no other batsman has crossed the 7,000-run mark yet.
Q. Who is the most 50 in IPL history?
Ans. While Virat Kohli leads the charts for the most runs in the IPL so far, he’s second on the list of most IPL fifties, currently trailing Australia’s David Warner who scored 62 IPL fifties.
Q. Who is Baap of IPL?
Ans. It’s difficult to define any one player as the ‘Baap’ of the IPL but Virat Kohli has the most runs in the tournament’s history while Yuzvendra Chahal has the most wickets. On the other hand, MS Dhoni is considered as one of the most iconic players of the competition.
For more updates on the overall IPL 2025 season, stay tuned to ReadScoops.com…
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