Joe Root tops yet another Test record list as Sachin Tendulkar and Graeme Smith take a backseat in the 4th innings
According to statistics, most batters shine in the first and second innings.
Things get harder in the third innings and much more difficult in the fourth innings, so much so that few batters have scored more than 1400 runs in the fourth innings.
Below, we have listed some of the most prolific batters in the fourth innings. Read to see who has the most runs in the final Test cricket match innings.
9. Brian Lara, 1,440 fourth-innings Test runs
Brian Lara was the mainstay for the West Indies’ batting order for 16 years. The left-hander came in when the West Indies had just lost a cohort of great batters that included Viv Richards, Desmond Haynes and other stars from the 80s. The West Indies struggled with the bat so much that they often batted twice while their opponents had a single innings.
Lara tried to do in the fourth innings what he did in the first and second innings. He amassed 1440 fourth-innings runs in his career, and his best outing was his unbeaten 153 against Australia in March 1999. No other West Indies batter reached the 40-run mark, and Lara’s knock shepherded the West Indies to a one-wicket win.
8. Ricky Ponting, 1,465 fourth-innings Test runs
No other Australian batter has as many runs in the fourth innings as Ricky Ponting. The former Australian captain was brilliant in the final innings, and when he got going, he was difficult to dismiss. Nothing demonstrates that more than his six 50s and four centuries in the fourth innings.
Ponting accumulated 1465 runs in the fourth innings, and his finest performance was his dominant 156 against England in 2005. Ponting’s knock was the barrier that denied England victory and secured Australia a draw in a match they should have lost. His measured innings featured 16 fours and a single six as he mounted a one-man defence.
Ponting played for Australia from 1995 to 2012, and he scored 1465 runs in the fourth innings in that period.
7. Younis Khan, 1,465 fourth-innings Test runs
No Pakistan batter has as many fourth-innings runs as Younis Khan. The number four batter was so good in the fourth innings that he averaged 50.5 runs in 40 innings. Khan’s brilliance is made clearer by the six 50s and five hundreds in the final innings.
His finest innings was an unbeaten 171 that he carved as he steered Pakistan to a seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in 2015. Khan’s innings meant so much because it was the first time Pakistan scored 377 runs in the fourth innings. The manner of his knock belied the demanding nature of the surface.
6. Rahul Dravid, 1,575 fourth-innings Test runs
Rahul Dravid has the second-most fourth-innings runs by an Indian batter. The former number three batter featured in 57 fourth innings for India between 1996 and 2012. He scored 1575 runs at an average of 40.38.
The century, an unbeaten 103, came in January 1999 against New Zealand. India was on 33/1 when Dravid arrived at the crease. The number three batter shared a brief 22-run partnership with Ajay Jadeja before he joined forces with Sourav Ganguly for a 194-run third-wicket stand that secured a draw for India.
5. Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 1,580 fourth-innings Test runs
Chanderpaul was one of the greatest number fives in Test cricket. The West Indian star also scored the most fourth-innings runs for the West Indies. The Guyanese batter featured 49 times in the fourth innings between 1994 and 2015. In that time, he compiled 1580 runs at an average of 41.57.
Chanderpaul scored 11 50s and two centuries in the fourth innings, and his best was an unbeaten 116 against England in 2007. The century was a follow-up to a half-century he had scored in the second innings. Chanderpaul was head and shoulders above the rest of the West Indies batting lineup in that match; no other West Indies batter scored more than 40 runs in a single innings.
4. Alastair Cook, 1,611 fourth-innings Test runs
Cook has the second-most runs in the fourth innings by an English batter. The former opener scored 1611 runs in 53 innings at an average of 35.8. Cook featured for England from 2006 to 2018, and in that time, he managed nine 50s and two centuries in the fourth innings.
The best of his centuries was 116 against Australia in 2006. Cook’s ton was a valiant effort as England fought to save the Test; however, the mountain was too high for Cook to scale alone, and while there were two half-centuries in the innings, it was not enough.
3. Graeme Smith, 1,611 fourth-innings Test runs
Smith was one of the best fourth-innings batters for South Africa, and his average is a good reflection of that. The former South African captain featured in 41 knocks in the fourth innings for South Africa, and he amassed 1611 runs at an average of 51.96. That tally features nine 50s and four centuries.
His best knock was an unbeaten 154 against New Zealand in 2004. His 203-ball innings featured 17 fours as he led South Africa to victory over the hosts in Christchurch.
2. Sachin Tendulkar, 1,625 fourth-innings Test runs
Tendulkar had one of the longest international careers ever. His career spanned from 1989 to 2013, and in that period, he walked out to bat for India 60 times in the fourth innings for a total of 1625 runs at an average of 36.93. Tendulkar also scored seven 50s and three half-centuries in the fourth innings.
His best outing was an unbeaten 136 against Pakistan in Chennai in 1999. Tendulkar lacked support for most of the innings; nine of the Indian batters who walked out did not score more than 11 runs. Nayan Mongia scored a patient 50 from 135 balls, but Tendulkar needed more support.
1. Joe Root, 1,737 fourth-innings Test runs
Joe Root has been collecting records in 2025, and when he walked out to bat against India in the fourth innings at Headingley in June 2025, he broke another one. He overtook Sachin Tendulkar on his way to the most runs in the fourth innings in Test cricket. The former England captain is now on 1737 runs in 51 appearances in the fourth innings.
Root has an average of 43.42 in knocks that feature 10 50s and two centuries. His best fourth-innings performance was an unbeaten 142 against India in 2022. Root led with the bat, playing his regular repertoire of shots sprinkled with some ‘Bazball-flavoured’ ones as he led England to victory. It was in the first year of Bazball, and Root showed his adaptability with a brilliant knock.
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