Batsmen with the most runs in a Test series: There isn’t any bigger challenge in cricket than facing up to bowlers in Tests. The red ball constantly keeps the batters at their toes. Swing and seam bowlers use the early conditions to their advantage. They also use the older ball to test batsmen with reverse swing. Spinners find their way to puzzle batsmen as the wicket wears down.
It takes the best of Test batters to succeed across conditions against the best of attacks. There have been few batters who have scored truckloads of runs in difficult conditions against quality opponents.
We look at the top 5 active Batsmen with the most runs in a Test series:
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#5 Steve Smith – 687 runs
It is difficult to imagine a better contemporary Test batter than Steve Smith. The Ashes series of 2017-18 in Australia saw Smith at the peak of his powers. Steve Smith plundered the English attack in home conditions scoring 687 runs. The English bowlers appeared clueless against Smith. They resorted to round-the-wicket bowling to Smith even with the new ball. He scored 3 centuries and 2 fifties in 5 Tests. Smith averaged 137.40 in the series with a top score of 239.
#4 Virat Kohli – 692 runs
He had a torrid time in England in 2014 scoring just 134 runs across 10 Test innings. Virat Kohli tweaked his game ahead of the big tour down under in 2014-15. He hasn’t looked back since then. Kohli went on to put on of the best Indian batting displays ever seen on Australian soil. His twin hundreds in the first Test in Adelaide rank among the greatest knocks of the last decade. Kohli captained the side in two of the four Tests and scored 4 centuries piling up 692 runs at an average of 86.50.
#3 Joe Root – 737 runs
It was a strange series that was played for over a year. Joe Root was England’s best Test batter in 2021. He singlehandedly shouldered England’s batting in the 4 Tests that were played in 2021. Root added another century to his kitty in the fifth Test in 2022. It was Joe Root who helped England level the series 2-2. Root scored a massive 737 runs in 5 Tests at an average of 105.28. He scored 4 centuries and a fifty during the process.
#2 Steve Smith – 769 runs
This was the series that saw the coming of age of Steve Smith as a Test batter. He launched into an inexperienced Indian bowling attack throughout the series. Smith found a liking for Indian bowlers quite early in his career.
He provided enough evidence about being the worthy successor to Don Bradman and Ricky Ponting. Smith scored a whopping 769 runs in the 4 Test match Border-Gavaskar series in 2014-15. He scored 4 centuries, and 2 fifties at an average of 128.16.
#1 Steve Smith – 774 runs
This was his comeback Test series after the sandpaper gate scandal. Steve Smith was walking into the cauldron of Ashes in England. The hostile English crowd didn’t deter away from making it difficult for Smith. But the Australian batting great rose like a Phoenix in the series.
He notched up a record 774 runs in 4 Tests he played at an average of 110.57. Smith compiled 3 centuries and 3 half-centuries in the series. A Jofra Archer bouncer ruled Steve Smith out for a Test. If not for missing out on that Test, Smith could have very well broken into the 800/900 runs club in a series.
