Test cricket is a playing field where only the finest players take pride in wearing white. The number of players that reach such heights is very limited as the number of whites worn is not many.
But every player who gets the honour makes the most of it by proving their worth with skill, hard work, and determination. And when an athlete reaches a milestone like this, it is nothing but a huge pat on the back for him.
The mark of scoring 13,000 runs in Test matches has always been looked at as a mountain hard to climb but so far only five players have been fortunate enough to reach the top.
This write-up shall, however, name the five quickest scorers of 13,000 Test runs (by innings).
5. Joe Root (England) – 279 Innings (2025)
The last to come in the line of the players with 13,000-Test runs is Joe Root. The player who used to be captain of the England team is now leaping to new heights continuously by breaking records one after the other.
He became the 13,000th man in his 279th innings and with that, he was crowned as the first Englishman to reach the milestone.
The most interesting part is that Root has done this in the least time among the batters mentioned in this list. He has been given a period of 12 years and 160 days from the day of his debut to the day he reached the mark.
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4. Rahul Dravid (India) – 277 Innings (2011)
Rahul Dravid was the epitome of one who could not be defeated but also one who played a long innings and finally scored for India. His tough hit made him achieve the grand total of 13,000 Test runs in two and a half years and 277 innings.
Dravid was a real classical batsman with the only thing he knew how to do was to play long innings day in and day out. It was almost by the hour that he would keep grinding at the opposition and thus the name ‘The Wall’ became synonymous with him.
Dravid had a nearly 16-year career in Test cricket where he amassed 13288 runs in 164 test matches.
3. Ricky Ponting (Australia) – 275 Innings (2012)
Ricky Ponting surpassed Dravid’s landmark in just a couple of months. The former Australian skipper was incredibly fast and brilliant as he reached 13,000 runs in just 275 innings.
All in all, he became the third batter to surpass the landmark in the format. Ponting exhibited a great deal of determination to attain the milestone after 16 years of his Test debut.
He was a steady top-order batter for Australia, racking up 13,378 runs and 41 hundreds over the course of 168 Tests.
2. Jacques Kallis (South Africa) – 269 Innings (2013)
About a year later, Jacques Kallis moved past Ponting. In 2013, he became the fourth batter to reach 13,000 Test runs. The South African all-rounder achieved this landmark in his 269th innings after starting his Test career in late 1995.
During his 18-year-long career, Kallis had built a great reputation as a batter for South Africa. Besides being a batter, he was also a bowler and often got the wickets with his medium pace.
Kallis scored a total of 13,289 runs in Tests and took 292 wickets in 166 matches and he was among the greatest all-rounders.
1. Sachin Tendulkar (India) – 266 Innings (2010)
Sachin Tendulkar is almost always there in the records of cricket. He was the one and only batter to achieve the 13,000-run mark in Test cricket first. Moreover, he did it in 2010.
The Master Blaster required 266 innings and 163 Tests to notch up his 13,000th Test run. It was a long, tough journey of two decades to attain the feat.
Tendulkar then crossed the 14,000- and 15,000-run barriers which no other batter has reached so far. He bid goodbye to the longer format in 2013 with 15,921 runs to his name.
