Compared to other cricket formats, the test cricket format allows a player to set as many records as possible. If a player stands long enough and strikes at a high enough rate, he can score a big run.

The second edition of the ICC World Test Championship lived up to the hype, with all-time classic matches, bowlers netting massive hauls, and hitters accumulating a mountain of runs across the cycle.

Here are the top five players with the most runs in the current WTC cycle:

Joe Root- 1915 Runs

English batter Joe Root tops the WTC 2023 Most Runs Scorer list in a row for the second World Test Championship cycle. He maintains his lead in the charts with 1915 runs from 22 Tests.

The former England captain extended his previous cycle’s form into this one, opening strong with three hundreds and a fifty in the first three matches against India. Though he could not sustain those high standards towards the end of the tournament, Root had accumulated enough runs to pull ahead of the other players in the run-scoring statistics. He has a perfect eight hundreds and six fifties. 

Usman Khawaja- 1608 Runs

Before the awaited final against India, Usman Khawaja finished the WTC cycle as the second-highest run-scorer on the WTC 2023 Most Runs scorers list. His 69.91 average is also the greatest in the tournament for any batter with more than 800 runs.

He scored runs at home and overseas, including three hundreds in Asia. At home, Sydney was his hunting ground, with three hundreds at the SCG, including two against England in the exact match and an unbroken 195* against South Africa.

Babar Azam- 1527 Runs

Though Pakistan and their captain had a forgettable World Cup campaign, Babar played brightly for his squad. He again demonstrated to the world why he is among the finest in the business across 14 Tests in the cycle.

Babar had a quiet start by his typical standards, scoring only three fifties in Pakistan’s first five WTC Tests. But, precisely when Pakistan needed him the most, Babar came through with the finest Test innings of his career.

Marnus Labuschagne- 1509 Runs

Marnus Labuschagne was the highest-scoring No.3 batter in the entire two-year cycle, scoring nearly double that of the runner-up, Cheteshwar Pujara. In Australia’s most recent home summer, he demolished rival attacks, hitting about 1000 runs, including three hundreds and a double tonne against the West Indies. His record away from home was similarly respectable, with an average of 40.21 and a century in Galle.

Jonny Bairstow- 1285 Runs

With the bat in the middle order, Bairstow had the most effect in this WTC cycle. His borderline insane use of the Bazball method resulted in five successive 50+ scores, probably the best run of Test innings ever, with four hundreds, three at strike rates higher than a run-a-ball. In addition to his spectacular home summer in 2022, he earned two foreign hundreds in this cycle, one in the West Indies and one in Australia.