Best Indian Test Middle Order Batsmen Featured

Top 10 Indian Middle Order Batsmen in Tests

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All Test Ratings on the website are from 01/01/1950 onwards (Know Why). Most of our ratings are dynamic, and as new matches are played, the rating of earlier batsmen may change if current batsmen set new benchmarks. Brief explanation of the ratings is given before each section (Detailed Explanation). Here are the Top 10 Indian middle order (3-6) batsmen in Test Cricket since 1950.

*Note: All Test Ratings are updated till 2025-02-15

CONTENTS
1. THE CRITERIA
2. QUALIFICATION
3. PRIMARY CRITERIA
3.1. PROLIFIC
3.2. CONSISTENT
3.2.1. Against All Teams
3.2.2. Against Top Teams
3.3. BIG INNINGS POTENTIAL
3.4. ATTACKING
3.5. PRIMARY RATING
4. CONDITIONS CRITERIA
4.1. HOME/AWAY
4.1.1. At Home
4.1.2. Away From Home
4.2. FAMILIAR/UNFAMILIAR CONDITIONS
4.2.1. Familiar Conditions Rating
4.2.1.1. Asians In Asia
4.2.2. Unfamiliar Conditions Rating
4.2.2.1. Asians Outside Asia
4.3. CONDITIONS RATING
5. SECONDARY CRITERIA
5.1. TOP FORM AT HOME
5.2. TOP FORM AWAY
5.3. DIFFICULT RUNS
5.4. IMPACT INNINGS
5.5. SECONDARY RATING
6. OVERALL RATING
7. TOP TEAMS
7.1. Top Teams In Asia
7.2. Top Teams Outside Asia
Nations Filter

This rating filters the OVERALL Rating to show players only from India.

  • The Rating of the players from India remains the same as in the original OVERALL Rating.
  • Thus the Trend Setter can be from any nation and is not necessarily from India.
Position Filter

This rating filters the OVERALL Rating to include performances of middle order (3-6) batsmen. Innings played only at the specified position are counted in this rating.

THE CRITERIA

CRITERIA CONSTITUENTS
Primary Runs, Average, Top Inns, Strike Rate
Conditions Home, Away, In Asia, Outside Asia
Secondary Top Form Home and Away, Difficult Runs, Impact Inns
The Trend Setter (TS)

TS is the player which does the best in a criteria. The rating of all other players are calculated taking the TS as the benchmark. Know All About TS. Here is an example:-

  • TS Runs: 2,000; Player X Runs: 1,000; Section Points: 250.00
  • TS Points: 250.00(Max); Player X Points: Runs/TS Runs X 250 = 1,000/2,000 X 250 = 125.00
  • Ratings of all sections are calculated similarly with Runs being replaced by the Criteria Stat.
Top Teams (TT)

Some sections consider performances only against the top teams. Here is some information about the Top Teams:-

  • Win/Loss Ratio is used to determine top teams.
  • The top teams are calculated by decades.
  • Further, they are divided into In Asia and Outside Asia.
  • A batsman’s performace is counted in TT if it comes in the specific condition and in the specific decade.

QUALIFICATION

Min Innings 50

PRIMARY CRITERIA

The Primary Rating is divided into 4 main sections:-

CRITERIA STAT POINTS
Prolific Runs Scored 200.00
Consistent Average 500.00
Big Innings Potential Top Inns (Runs) 150.00
Attacking Strike Rate 150.00

PROLIFIC

The Eras

The time period from 1950 to present is divided into eras for this section. This is because less cricket was played earlier. To make it fair for earlier players they are compared with players of the same period with a slight reduction in points. Know More About Eras.

Era 1 MP before 1991
Era 2 MP between 1990 And 2016
Era 3 MP greater than 2015

Criteria: Points For Runs Scored

RANK ERA 1 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS AR Border AUS 1978 1994 1986 257 10964 170.00
1 DB Vengsarkar IND 1976 1992 1984 171 6702 103.92
2 GR Viswanath IND 1969 1983 1976 154 6001 93.05
3 M Amarnath IND 1976 1988 1982 102 4157 64.46
RANK ERA 2 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS SR Tendulkar IND 1989 2013 2001 324 15789 200.00
1 SR Tendulkar IND 1989 2013 2001 324 15789 200.00
2 RS Dravid IND 1996 2012 2004 259 12202 154.56
3 VVS Laxman IND 1996 2012 2004 189 7748 98.14
4 M Azharuddin IND 1984 2000 1992 146 6100 77.27
RANK ERA 3 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS JE Root ENG 2012 2024 2018 266 12555 180.00
1 V Kohli IND 2011 2025 2018 209 9219 132.17
2 CA Pujara IND 2010 2023 2016.5 167 6721 96.36
3 RR Pant IND 2018 2025 2021.5 53 2217 31.78

CONSISTENT

R Ave

Relative Average (R Ave) is a more accurate type of average. Know How It Is Calculated. Briefly, it takes into account:-

  • Strength of Opposition.
  • Positions at which a batsman has played.
  • Venues at which he has played.
  • Time Period in which he has been active

Criteria: Points For Relative Average

Min Qualification For TS
Min Runs 2500

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS GS Sobers 135 16 7048 59.23 60.73 250.00
1 SR Tendulkar 324 33 15789 54.26 51.70 212.83
2 RR Pant 53 4 2217 45.24 50.91 209.55
3 RS Dravid 259 28 12202 52.82 50.37 207.35
4 V Kohli 209 13 9219 47.04 48.20 198.43
5 VVS Laxman 189 27 7748 47.83 46.11 189.81
6 M Azharuddin 146 9 6100 44.53 45.83 188.68
7 DB Vengsarkar 171 21 6702 44.68 45.15 185.88
8 M Amarnath 102 9 4157 44.70 44.69 183.97
9 CA Pujara 167 8 6721 42.27 44.38 182.69
10 GR Viswanath 154 9 6001 41.39 41.70 171.66

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS GS Sobers 112 12 5793 57.93 59.40 250.00
1 V Kohli 166 10 7531 48.28 49.47 208.22
2 SR Tendulkar 253 20 11666 50.07 47.71 200.80
3 RR Pant 45 3 1733 41.26 46.42 195.38
4 M Azharuddin 126 9 5268 45.03 46.35 195.07
5 RS Dravid 192 17 8425 48.14 45.91 193.21
6 M Amarnath 85 8 3431 44.56 44.55 187.50
7 VVS Laxman 143 17 5529 43.88 42.31 178.05
8 DB Vengsarkar 151 18 5501 41.36 41.80 175.93
9 CA Pujara 135 5 5132 39.48 41.45 174.43
10 GR Viswanath 132 6 4951 39.29 39.59 166.63

BIG INNINGS POTENTIAL

Ave HS

In this criteria, we have taken the top 7 scores of the batsman in the specific condition. Average High Score (Ave HS) is simply the total runs in the 7 innings divided by 7.

Criteria: Points For Runs Scored In The Top 7 Inns

RANK BATSMAN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AVE HS RAT
TS BC Lara 400* 375 277 226 221 216 213 275.43 150.00
1 V Kohli 254* 243 235 213 211 204 200 222.86 121.37
2 RS Dravid 270 233 222 217 200* 191 190 217.57 118.49
3 SR Tendulkar 248* 241* 217 214 203 201* 194* 216.86 118.10
4 VVS Laxman 281 200* 178 176* 154* 148 143* 182.86 99.59
5 CA Pujara 206* 204 202 193 159 153 153 181.43 98.81
6 M Azharuddin 199 192 182 179 163* 163* 152 175.71 95.70
7 GR Viswanath 222 179 161* 145 139 137 131 159.14 86.67
8 DB Vengsarkar 166 164* 159 157* 157 153 146* 157.43 85.74
9 M Amarnath 138 131 120 117 116* 116 109* 121.00 65.90
10 RR Pant 146 109 101 100* 99 97 96 106.86 58.20

ATTACKING

R SR

Relative Strike Rate (R SR) is calculated using the same method as R Ave with average being replaced with SR. Batsman who were active in earlier times benefit from this as SR was generally low earlier.

R4BF

Balls played by batsmen for many inns is not available for earlier times. When such is the case, we have used Runs For Balls Faced (R4BF) to determine the Strike Rate. This is the runs scored by the batsman for the available data of balls.

Criteria: Points For R SR

Min Qualification For TS
Min Runs 2500
Min Average 25
RANK BATSMAN R4BF BF SR R SR RAT
TS IVA Richards 6609 9580 68.99 75.84 150.00
1 RR Pant 2217 2884 76.87 70.51 139.46
2 M Azharuddin 5605 9787 57.27 62.49 123.58
3 SR Tendulkar 15778 29171 54.09 54.38 107.56
4 V Kohli 9219 16587 55.58 53.03 104.87
5 GR Viswanath 3787 8700 43.53 50.78 100.43
6 VVS Laxman 7748 15596 49.68 49.27 97.45
7 DB Vengsarkar 4734 11198 42.28 47.54 94.02
8 M Amarnath 2116 5002 42.30 47.14 93.24
9 RS Dravid 12202 28633 42.62 43.16 85.35
10 CA Pujara 6721 15345 43.80 42.69 84.43

PRIMARY RATING

The total of the above four criteria comes out to be 1,000.00 points. The Primary Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the four criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is half of the OVERALL Rating, i.e. 500.00 pts.

RANK BATSMAN PRO CON BIP ATT RAT PRI PTS
1 SR Tendulkar 200.00 413.63 118.10 107.56 839.29 419.65
2 V Kohli 132.17 406.65 121.37 104.87 765.06 382.53
3 RS Dravid 154.56 400.55 118.49 85.35 758.96 379.48
4 M Azharuddin 77.27 383.75 95.70 123.58 680.29 340.15
5 VVS Laxman 98.14 367.86 99.59 97.45 663.04 331.52
6 DB Vengsarkar 103.92 361.81 85.74 94.02 645.48 322.74
7 CA Pujara 96.36 357.12 98.81 84.43 636.72 318.36
8 RR Pant 31.78 404.94 58.20 139.46 634.37 317.19
9 GR Viswanath 93.05 338.29 86.67 100.43 618.43 309.22
10 M Amarnath 64.46 371.47 65.90 93.24 595.06 297.53

CONDITIONS CRITERIA

The Conditions

The Conditions Ratings are calculated by applying the four criteria of the Primary Rating to diffirent conditions. If Innings are less than the Qualification than the Player gets 50% of the Points. Click on the Rating Titles to see how they were calculated.

The four conditions criteria and thier weightage is as follows:-

CRITERIA POINTS
Home 250.00
Away 1,000.00
Familiar Conditions 250.00
Unfamiliar Conditions 1,000.00

HOME/AWAY

HOME/AWAY RATING

Points to note:-

  • U.A.E. is considered as a second Home for Pakistan and Afghanistan.
  • All Home and Away stats of Pakistani and Afghani batsmen are calculated accordingly.

At Home

Min Innings: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 V Kohli 87 4336 55.59 59.31 754.31 188.58
2 SR Tendulkar 152 7201 52.95 53.15 727.39 181.85
3 M Azharuddin 66 3412 55.93 56.48 692.03 173.01
4 DB Vengsarkar 78 3719 56.35 42.77 670.00 167.50
5 RS Dravid 114 5429 52.71 42.66 667.60 166.90
6 RR Pant 21 1061 55.84 89.84 646.73 161.68
7 CA Pujara 75 3589 51.27 48.45 642.51 160.63
8 VVS Laxman 75 3382 57.32 48.63 642.16 160.54
9 GR Viswanath 80 3423 46.26 44.65 615.99 154.00
10 M Amarnath 43 1321 33.87 43.78 406.85 101.71

Away From Home

Min Innings: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 SR Tendulkar 172 8588 55.41 54.90 821.37 821.37
2 RS Dravid 145 6773 52.91 42.58 726.41 726.41
3 V Kohli 122 4883 41.38 52.64 654.72 654.72
4 M Amarnath 59 2836 52.52 41.49 640.39 640.39
5 VVS Laxman 114 4366 42.39 50.53 578.15 578.15
6 M Azharuddin 80 2688 35.37 58.23 552.22 552.22
7 CA Pujara 92 3132 35.19 39.46 531.60 531.60
8 RR Pant 32 1156 38.53 67.88 529.74 529.74
9 DB Vengsarkar 93 2983 35.51 41.74 514.69 514.69
10 GR Viswanath 74 2578 36.31 42.19 505.64 505.64

FAMILIAR/UNFAMILIAR CONDITIONS

FAMILIAR/UNFAMILIAR CONDITIONS RATING

Points to note:-

  • Unfamiliar Conditions (UC) is Outside Asia for Asians and In Asia for Non Asians.
  • Familiar Conditions (FC) are the opposite.

Familiar Conditions Rating

Asians In Asia

Min Innings: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 SR Tendulkar 192 9618 56.58 54.07 769.18 192.29
2 V Kohli 102 4789 52.63 58.62 748.34 187.09
3 M Azharuddin 87 4291 52.98 56.68 682.89 170.72
4 CA Pujara 83 4120 53.51 49.21 678.03 169.51
5 RS Dravid 149 6960 51.56 43.84 671.69 167.92
6 DB Vengsarkar 100 4398 51.74 43.24 656.82 164.21
7 RR Pant 23 1200 57.14 90.23 656.25 164.06
8 VVS Laxman 96 4167 54.12 49.65 628.17 157.04
9 GR Viswanath 93 3806 43.75 44.34 600.79 150.20
10 M Amarnath 63 2326 42.29 44.21 510.81 127.70

Unfamiliar Conditions Rating

Asians Outside Asia

Min Innings: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 SR Tendulkar 132 6171 51.00 54.12 930.75 930.75
2 RS Dravid 110 5242 54.60 41.09 875.20 875.20
3 V Kohli 107 4430 42.19 52.63 832.20 832.20
4 VVS Laxman 93 3581 42.13 49.72 690.89 690.89
5 M Amarnath 39 1831 48.18 39.25 648.04 648.04
6 DB Vengsarkar 71 2304 35.45 41.02 624.63 624.63
7 GR Viswanath 61 2195 37.84 42.39 615.06 615.06
8 CA Pujara 84 2601 31.72 37.31 607.61 607.61
9 M Azharuddin 59 1809 32.30 58.54 590.68 590.68
10 RR Pant 30 1017 36.32 65.44 549.02 549.02

CONDITIONS RATING

The total of the above four criteria comes out to be 2,500.00 points. The Conditions Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the four criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is one-fourth of the OVERALL Rating, i.e. 250 pts.

RANK BATSMAN AWAY HOME UC FC TOT CON PTS
1 SR Tendulkar 821.37 181.85 930.75 192.29 2,126.26 212.63
2 RS Dravid 726.41 166.90 875.20 167.92 1,936.43 193.64
3 V Kohli 654.72 188.58 832.20 187.09 1,862.59 186.26
4 VVS Laxman 578.15 160.54 690.89 157.04 1,586.62 158.66
5 M Amarnath 640.39 101.71 648.04 127.70 1,517.85 151.78
6 M Azharuddin 552.22 173.01 590.68 170.72 1,486.64 148.66
7 DB Vengsarkar 514.69 167.50 624.63 164.21 1,471.02 147.10
8 CA Pujara 531.60 160.63 607.61 169.51 1,469.34 146.93
9 GR Viswanath 505.64 154.00 615.06 150.20 1,424.90 142.49
10 RR Pant 529.74 161.68 549.02 164.06 1,404.51 140.45

SECONDARY CRITERIA

The Secondary Rating consists of four parts. If Innings are less than the Qualification than the Player gets 50% of the Points. Click on the Rating Titles to see how they were calculated.

The four secondary criteria and thier weightage is as follows:-

CRITERIA POINTS
Top Form Home 200.00
Top Form Away 800.00
Difficult Runs 500.00
Impact Innings 1,000.00
TOP FORM RATING

Points to note about Top Form Rating:-

  • Top Form is calculated by taking the best 30 consecutive innings of a batsman.
  • There are two TF Ratings used in our OVERALL Rating: Home and Away.

TOP FORM AT HOME

Min Innings: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 V Kohli 30 2418 96.72 68.52 960.31 192.06
2 SR Tendulkar 30 2099 80.73 55.62 785.54 157.11
3 DB Vengsarkar 30 1744 69.76 57.73 714.55 142.91
4 CA Pujara 30 1836 68.00 51.28 706.02 141.20
5 M Azharuddin 30 1661 63.88 63.98 695.24 139.05
6 RS Dravid 30 1704 68.16 45.38 685.08 137.02
7 VVS Laxman 30 1475 70.24 50.03 631.60 126.32
8 GR Viswanath 30 1541 57.07 43.74 611.97 122.39
9 RR Pant 21 1061 55.84 89.84 573.00 114.60
10 M Amarnath 30 1096 40.59 45.47 455.13 91.03

TOP FORM AWAY

Min Innings: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 RS Dravid 30 2244 86.31 48.34 932.80 746.24
2 SR Tendulkar 30 1809 75.38 55.59 833.95 667.16
3 V Kohli 30 1786 61.59 61.16 771.86 617.49
4 M Amarnath 30 1804 72.16 41.52 731.29 585.03
5 M Azharuddin 30 1467 52.39 62.51 679.41 543.53
6 VVS Laxman 30 1387 51.37 52.98 621.28 497.02
7 CA Pujara 30 1359 46.86 40.56 611.63 489.30
8 GR Viswanath 30 1489 49.63 44.57 601.67 481.34
9 RR Pant 30 1155 41.25 69.24 566.90 453.52
10 DB Vengsarkar 30 1158 50.35 46.49 555.57 444.46

DIFFICULT RUNS

DIFF RNS RATING

Points to note:-

  • Difficult Runs are runs scored in the first and fourth innings after losing the toss.
  • Only performances against Top Teams are considered in this rating.

Min Innings: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 GR Viswanath 25 1148 52.18 44.89 779.44 389.72
2 SR Tendulkar 46 1556 39.90 53.66 770.68 385.34
3 V Kohli 37 1210 35.59 52.84 671.85 335.92
4 DB Vengsarkar 27 836 34.83 46.71 589.89 294.94
5 RS Dravid 36 1046 34.87 38.22 549.16 274.58
6 M Azharuddin 21 655 34.47 56.42 535.08 267.54
7 M Amarnath 17 599 37.44 45.71 524.55 262.27
8 RR Pant 9 478 59.75 75.87 500.00 250.00
9 VVS Laxman 27 697 29.04 50.54 460.47 230.24
10 CA Pujara 28 565 21.73 35.74 384.11 192.05

IMPACT INNINGS

Impact Innings (II)

Impact Innings are those innings which have an impact in terms of runs or Strike Rate. Know All About II. Points to note about II:-

  • 1st & 2nd and 3rd & 4th innings are clubbed together.
  • A Batsman should score at least 30 runs to qualify.
  • An Inn is included in II if it is 20% of the total runs of the higher total or
  • The runs are more than 12.5% of the total runs and
  • The SR is high or in a successful chase while being Not Out.

Min Innings: 50

RANK BATSMAN DIS II II/Dis% RAT WTG
1 SR Tendulkar 291 94 32.30 837.05 837.05
2 RR Pant 49 20 40.82 751.87 751.87
3 RS Dravid 231 65 28.14 717.66 717.66
4 M Amarnath 93 23 24.73 642.37 642.37
5 V Kohli 196 46 23.47 575.84 575.84
6 GR Viswanath 145 35 24.14 543.23 543.23
7 DB Vengsarkar 150 36 24.00 533.29 533.29
8 CA Pujara 159 35 22.01 488.05 488.05
9 VVS Laxman 162 34 20.99 448.49 448.49
10 M Azharuddin 137 27 19.71 404.77 404.77

SECONDARY RATING

The total of the above four criteria comes out to be 2,500.00 points. Secondary Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the four criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is one-fourth of the OVERALL Rating, i.e. 250.00 pts.

RANK BATSMAN TF HM TF AW DIF RNS II TOT SEC RAT
1 SR Tendulkar 157.11 667.16 385.34 837.05 2,046.66 204.67
2 RS Dravid 137.02 746.24 274.58 717.66 1,875.49 187.55
3 V Kohli 192.06 617.49 335.92 575.84 1,721.31 172.13
4 M Amarnath 91.03 585.03 262.27 642.37 1,580.70 158.07
5 RR Pant 114.60 453.52 250.00 751.87 1,569.99 157.00
6 GR Viswanath 122.39 481.34 389.72 543.23 1,536.68 153.67
7 DB Vengsarkar 142.91 444.46 294.94 533.29 1,415.60 141.56
8 M Azharuddin 139.05 543.53 267.54 404.77 1,354.88 135.49
9 CA Pujara 141.20 489.30 192.05 488.05 1,310.61 131.06
10 VVS Laxman 126.32 497.02 230.24 448.49 1,302.07 130.21

OVERALL RATING

The OVERALL Rating is the addition of the points of all the above criteria. The rating is out of 1,000 Pts. Half the points are for Primary Criteria; one-fourth for Conditions; and one-fourth for Secondary Criteria.

RANK OV RANK BATSMAN NAT PRI RAT CON RAT SEC RAT FIN RAT
1 1 SR Tendulkar IND 419.65 212.63 204.67 836.94
2 12 RS Dravid IND 379.48 193.64 187.55 760.67
3 15 V Kohli IND 382.53 186.26 172.13 740.92
4 37 M Azharuddin IND 340.15 148.66 135.49 624.30
5 40 VVS Laxman IND 331.52 158.66 130.21 620.39
6 44 RR Pant IND 317.19 140.45 157.00 614.64
7 49 DB Vengsarkar IND 322.74 147.10 141.56 611.40
8 51 M Amarnath IND 297.53 151.78 158.07 607.38
9 53 GR Viswanath IND 309.22 142.49 153.67 605.38
10 57 CA Pujara IND 318.36 146.93 131.06 596.35

TOP TEAMS

Top Teams In Asia

DECADE OF MAT 1 2 3 4 5 6
1950s AUS WI PAK IND ENG
1960s WI AUS PAK IND NZ ENG
1970s PAK ENG IND WI SA
1980s PAK WI ENG NZ IND
1990s IND PAK SA AUS SL WI
2000s AUS IND SL PAK SA ENG
2010s IND PAK SL ENG NZ SA
2020s IND AUS PAK NZ ENG SL

Top Teams Outside Asia

DECADE OF MAT 1 2 3 4 5 6
1950s AUS ENG WI SA
1960s ENG AUS WI SA NZ
1970s SA ENG WI AUS IND
1980s WI NZ AUS ENG PAK
1990s AUS SA WI PAK ENG NZ
2000s AUS ENG SA IND NZ PAK
2010s SA AUS ENG NZ IND PAK
2020s AUS ENG NZ SA IND WI

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