Tests - Best Indian Middle Order Batsmen

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). They are updated till 2026-02-05. Brief explanation of the ratings is given before each section (Detailed Explanation) and in the last section. Here are the Top 10 Indian middle order (3-6) batsmen in Test Cricket since 1950.

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. ATTACKING
3.3.1. Against All Teams
3.3.2. Against Top Teams
3.4. BIG INNINGS POTENTIAL
3.4.1. Against All Teams
3.4.2. Against Top Teams
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. LOW SCORING INNS
5.2. TOP FORM
5.3. IMPACT INNS
5.4. SECONDARY RATING
6. OVERALL RATING
6.1. BRIEF EXPLANATION
6.1.1. Dynamic Nature
6.1.2. Trend Setter (TS)
6.1.3. Top Teams (TT)
6.1.4. Abbreviations
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, Strike Rate, Top Inns
Conditions Home, Away, In Asia, Outside Asia
Secondary Top Form, Low Scoring Inns, Impact Inns

QUALIFICATION

Min Innings (TT) 30
Min Runs 1000

PRIMARY CRITERIA

The Primary Rating is divided into 4 main sections:-

CRITERIA STAT POINTS
Prolific Runs Scored 250.00
Consistent Average 400.00
Attacking Strike Rate 100.00
Big Innings Potential Top Inns (Runs) 250.00

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 1976
Era 2 MP between 1975 And 1996
Era 3 MP between 1995 And 2016
Era 4 MP greater than 2015

Criteria: Points For Runs Scored

RANK ERA 1 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS GS Sobers WI 1955 1974 1964.5 135 7048 220.00
RANK ERA 2 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS AR Border AUS 1978 1994 1986 257 10964 230.00
1 DB Vengsarkar IND 1976 1992 1984 171 6702 140.59
2 M Azharuddin IND 1984 2000 1992 146 6100 127.96
3 GR Viswanath IND 1969 1983 1976 154 6001 125.89
4 M Amarnath IND 1976 1988 1982 102 4157 87.20
RANK ERA 3 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS SR Tendulkar IND 1989 2013 2001 324 15789 250.00
1 SR Tendulkar IND 1989 2013 2001 324 15789 250.00
2 RS Dravid IND 1996 2012 2004 259 12202 193.20
3 VVS Laxman IND 1996 2012 2004 189 7748 122.68
RANK ERA 4 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS JE Root ENG 2012 2026 2019 286 13526 240.00
1 V Kohli IND 2011 2025 2018 209 9219 163.58
2 CA Pujara IND 2010 2023 2016.5 167 6721 119.25
3 RR Pant IND 2018 2025 2021.5 64 2745 48.71

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 2000
Min Runs (TT) 1600

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS GS Sobers 135 16 7048 59.23 64.11 160.00
1 SR Tendulkar 324 33 15789 54.26 53.87 134.46
2 RS Dravid 259 28 12202 52.82 52.41 130.82
3 RR Pant 64 4 2745 45.75 50.82 126.85
4 V Kohli 209 13 9219 47.04 47.91 119.59
5 VVS Laxman 189 27 7748 47.83 47.88 119.51
6 DB Vengsarkar 171 21 6702 44.68 47.21 117.82
7 M Azharuddin 146 9 6100 44.53 46.17 115.22
8 M Amarnath 102 9 4157 44.70 45.95 114.69
9 GR Viswanath 154 9 6001 41.39 44.32 110.62
10 CA Pujara 167 8 6721 42.27 43.44 108.43

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS GS Sobers 105 11 5806 61.77 68.16 240.00
1 SR Tendulkar 215 18 9312 47.27 49.70 175.01
2 VVS Laxman 128 18 5114 46.49 48.72 171.55
3 V Kohli 159 9 6848 45.65 48.48 170.69
4 M Amarnath 78 8 3152 45.03 48.06 169.21
5 RR Pant 53 3 2076 41.52 47.94 168.80
6 GR Viswanath 129 7 5150 42.21 46.17 162.58
7 RS Dravid 164 17 6424 43.70 45.89 161.58
8 M Azharuddin 96 7 3678 41.33 45.57 160.46
9 DB Vengsarkar 147 17 5491 42.24 45.56 160.42
10 CA Pujara 135 5 5221 40.16 42.66 150.22

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 2000
Min Runs (TT) 1600
Min Average 25

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN R4BF BF SR R SR RAT
TS HC Brook 3178 3660 86.83 79.08 40.00
1 RR Pant 2745 3562 77.06 72.71 36.78
2 M Azharuddin 5605 9787 57.27 62.94 31.84
3 SR Tendulkar 15778 29171 54.09 55.39 28.02
4 V Kohli 9219 16587 55.58 53.44 27.03
5 GR Viswanath 3787 8700 43.53 51.94 26.27
6 VVS Laxman 7748 15596 49.68 50.03 25.30
7 DB Vengsarkar 4734 11198 42.28 47.91 24.23
8 M Amarnath 2116 5002 42.30 47.82 24.19
9 RS Dravid 12202 28633 42.62 43.51 22.01
10 CA Pujara 6721 15345 43.80 42.41 21.45

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN R4BF BF SR R SR RAT
TS HC Brook 2361 2689 87.80 81.53 60.00
1 RR Pant 2076 2845 72.97 69.48 51.13
2 M Azharuddin 3517 6244 56.33 62.82 46.23
3 SR Tendulkar 9312 17619 52.85 54.35 39.99
4 V Kohli 6848 12520 54.70 52.90 38.93
5 GR Viswanath 3723 8464 43.99 52.78 38.84
6 VVS Laxman 5114 10044 50.92 51.40 37.83
7 M Amarnath 1898 4478 42.38 48.16 35.44
8 DB Vengsarkar 4046 9746 41.51 47.42 34.89
9 CA Pujara 5221 12380 42.17 41.04 30.20
10 RS Dravid 6424 16151 39.77 40.73 29.97

BIG INNINGS POTENTIAL

Ave HS

In this criteria, we have taken the top 7 scores of the batsman. 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

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AVE HS RAT
TS BC Lara 400* 375 277 226 221 216 213 275.43 80.00
1 V Kohli 254* 243 235 213 211 204 200 222.86 64.73
2 RS Dravid 270 233 222 217 200* 191 190 217.57 63.20
3 SR Tendulkar 248* 241* 217 214 203 201* 194* 216.86 62.99
4 VVS Laxman 281 200* 178 176* 154* 148 143* 182.86 53.11
5 CA Pujara 206* 204 202 193 159 153 153 181.43 52.70
6 M Azharuddin 199 192 182 179 163* 163* 152 175.71 51.04
7 GR Viswanath 222 179 161* 145 139 137 131 159.14 46.22
8 DB Vengsarkar 166 164* 159 157* 157 153 146* 157.43 45.73
9 M Amarnath 138 131 120 117 116* 116 109* 121.00 35.15
10 RR Pant 146 134 118 109 101 100* 99 115.29 33.49

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AVE HS RAT
TS DPMD Jayawardena 374 275 242 240 237 213* 195 253.71 170.00
1 V Kohli 254* 243 235 213 186 169 167 209.57 140.42
2 SR Tendulkar 241* 214 203 194* 179 177 169 196.71 131.81
3 RS Dravid 270 233 180 177 148 144* 144 185.14 124.05
4 CA Pujara 206* 204 202 193 153 153 143 179.14 120.03
5 VVS Laxman 281 200* 178 148 143* 130 112* 170.29 114.10
6 GR Viswanath 222 179 161* 145 139 137 131 159.14 106.63
7 M Azharuddin 192 163* 163* 141 122 110 110 143.00 95.82
8 DB Vengsarkar 159 157* 157 146* 137 126* 112 142.00 95.15
9 M Amarnath 138 120 117 116 109* 103* 101* 114.86 76.96
10 RR Pant 146 134 118 101 100* 99 97 113.57 76.10

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 40 percent.

RANK BATSMAN PRO CON BIP ATT RAT PRI PTS
1 SR Tendulkar 250.00 309.47 194.79 68.01 822.27 328.91
2 V Kohli 163.58 290.28 205.15 65.96 724.97 289.99
3 RS Dravid 193.20 292.40 187.25 51.98 724.83 289.93
4 VVS Laxman 122.68 291.06 167.21 63.13 644.08 257.63
5 M Azharuddin 127.96 275.68 146.85 78.06 628.56 251.43
6 DB Vengsarkar 140.59 278.24 140.87 59.13 618.83 247.53
7 GR Viswanath 125.89 273.20 152.86 65.11 617.05 246.82
8 CA Pujara 119.25 258.65 172.73 51.65 602.28 240.91
9 M Amarnath 87.20 283.90 112.10 59.63 542.83 217.13
10 RR Pant 48.71 295.65 109.58 87.91 541.85 216.74

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.

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

CRITERIA POINTS
Home 30.00
Away 120.00
Familiar Conditions 30.00
Unfamiliar Conditions 120.00

HOME/AWAY

HM/AW 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 Vs Top Teams: 15

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 SR Tendulkar 152 7201 52.95 53.15 756.12 22.68
2 V Kohli 87 4336 55.59 59.31 732.66 21.98
3 M Azharuddin 66 3412 55.93 56.48 682.59 20.48
4 DB Vengsarkar 78 3719 56.35 42.77 665.28 19.96
5 RS Dravid 114 5429 52.71 42.66 655.26 19.66
6 GR Viswanath 80 3423 46.26 44.65 648.89 19.47
7 VVS Laxman 75 3382 57.32 48.63 632.18 18.97
8 CA Pujara 75 3589 51.27 48.45 612.33 18.37
9 RR Pant 25 1110 48.26 89.37 476.96 14.31
10 M Amarnath 43 1321 33.87 43.78 385.47 11.56

Away From Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 15

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 SR Tendulkar 172 8588 55.41 54.90 814.05 97.69
2 RS Dravid 145 6773 52.91 42.58 717.03 86.04
3 V Kohli 122 4883 41.38 52.64 650.00 78.00
4 M Amarnath 59 2836 52.52 41.49 613.96 73.68
5 VVS Laxman 114 4366 42.39 50.53 579.29 69.52
6 CA Pujara 92 3132 35.19 39.46 539.69 64.76
7 RR Pant 39 1635 44.19 70.47 535.68 64.28
8 DB Vengsarkar 93 2983 35.51 41.74 514.35 61.72
9 M Azharuddin 80 2688 35.37 58.23 508.83 61.06
10 GR Viswanath 74 2578 36.31 42.19 504.90 60.59

FAMILIAR/UNFAMILIAR CONDITIONS

FC/UC 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 Vs Top Teams: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 SR Tendulkar 192 9618 56.58 54.07 869.03 26.07
2 V Kohli 102 4789 52.63 58.62 840.78 25.22
3 M Azharuddin 87 4291 52.98 56.68 801.27 24.04
4 DB Vengsarkar 100 4398 51.74 43.24 754.13 22.62
5 CA Pujara 83 4120 53.51 49.21 745.64 22.37
6 RS Dravid 149 6960 51.56 43.84 738.83 22.16
7 GR Viswanath 93 3806 43.75 44.34 722.31 21.67
8 VVS Laxman 96 4167 54.12 49.65 688.06 20.64
9 M Amarnath 63 2326 42.29 44.21 574.18 17.23
10 RR Pant 27 1249 49.96 89.79 500.00 15.00

Unfamiliar Conditions Rating

Asians Outside Asia

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 SR Tendulkar 132 6171 51.00 54.12 953.16 114.38
2 RS Dravid 110 5242 54.60 41.09 903.54 108.42
3 V Kohli 107 4430 42.19 52.63 859.24 103.11
4 VVS Laxman 93 3581 42.13 49.72 697.59 83.71
5 M Amarnath 39 1831 48.18 39.25 655.99 78.72
6 M Azharuddin 59 1809 32.30 58.54 646.04 77.52
7 DB Vengsarkar 71 2304 35.45 41.02 645.95 77.51
8 RR Pant 37 1496 42.74 68.91 637.93 76.55
9 GR Viswanath 61 2195 37.84 42.39 632.74 75.93
10 CA Pujara 84 2601 31.72 37.31 628.20 75.38

CONDITIONS RATING

The Conditions Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the four criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 30%.

RANK BATSMAN AWAY HOME UC FC CON PTS
1 SR Tendulkar 97.69 22.68 114.38 26.07 260.82
2 RS Dravid 86.04 19.66 108.42 22.16 236.29
3 V Kohli 78.00 21.98 103.11 25.22 228.31
4 VVS Laxman 69.52 18.97 83.71 20.64 192.83
5 M Azharuddin 61.06 20.48 77.52 24.04 183.10
6 DB Vengsarkar 61.72 19.96 77.51 22.62 181.82
7 M Amarnath 73.68 11.56 78.72 17.23 181.18
8 CA Pujara 64.76 18.37 75.38 22.37 180.89
9 GR Viswanath 60.59 19.47 75.93 21.67 177.65
10 RR Pant 64.28 14.31 76.55 15.00 170.14

SECONDARY CRITERIA

Secondary Rating

It consists of three parts. If Innings are less than the Qualification than the Player gets 50% of the Points.

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

CRITERIA POINTS
Low Scoring Inns 50.00
Top Form 100.00
Impact Innings 150.00

LOW SCORING INNS

LSI RATING

Low Scoring Inns (LSI) are those inns in which batting average is less than 30.

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 15

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 SR Tendulkar 139 4033 29.44 51.31 827.98 41.40
2 V Kohli 98 2677 27.60 49.61 771.77 38.59
3 GR Viswanath 81 2240 28.35 39.83 729.13 36.46
4 RS Dravid 113 2896 27.07 34.85 674.38 33.72
5 DB Vengsarkar 80 2033 27.85 38.85 660.37 33.02
6 VVS Laxman 82 2226 28.54 45.79 624.78 31.24
7 CA Pujara 71 1661 24.43 36.80 618.27 30.91
8 M Azharuddin 66 1461 23.19 55.16 592.49 29.62
9 M Amarnath 46 1250 28.41 39.16 577.19 28.86
10 RR Pant 33 815 25.47 63.77 524.75 26.24

TOP FORM

TF RATING

Points to note about Top Form Rating:-

  • TF is calculated by taking the best 50 consecutive innings of a batsman.
  • The inns are taken such that his points are maximum.
  • Only innings against Top Teams are considered.

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 V Kohli 50 3070 69.77 61.51 864.98 86.50
2 SR Tendulkar 50 2758 61.29 57.88 761.40 76.14
3 RS Dravid 50 2760 65.71 42.23 755.11 75.51
4 GR Viswanath 50 2642 55.04 46.42 696.74 69.67
5 VVS Laxman 50 2418 54.95 52.99 665.40 66.54
6 CA Pujara 50 2490 50.82 43.49 660.16 66.02
7 M Amarnath 50 2437 56.67 41.82 636.02 63.60
8 DB Vengsarkar 50 2285 55.73 46.40 633.94 63.39
9 M Azharuddin 50 2137 45.47 55.95 604.86 60.49
10 RR Pant 50 2062 43.87 73.80 593.68 59.37

IMPACT INNS

II RATING

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

  • A Batsman should score at least 30 runs to qualify.
  • An Inn is included in II if it is 15 percent of the total runs or
  • The SR is high or in a successful chase while being Not Out.

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 30

RANK BATSMAN DIS II II/Dis% RAT WTG
1 SR Tendulkar 291 126 43.30 829.01 124.35
2 RS Dravid 231 93 40.26 688.24 103.24
3 RR Pant 60 28 46.67 652.07 97.81
4 V Kohli 196 71 36.22 642.92 96.44
5 DB Vengsarkar 150 56 37.33 630.08 94.51
6 GR Viswanath 145 53 36.55 628.48 94.27
7 VVS Laxman 162 59 36.42 604.15 90.62
8 M Amarnath 93 31 33.33 579.61 86.94
9 CA Pujara 159 51 32.08 524.60 78.69
10 M Azharuddin 137 41 29.93 506.13 75.92

SECONDARY RATING

Secondary Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the three criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 30%.

RANK BATSMAN LSI TF II SEC RAT
1 SR Tendulkar 41.40 76.14 124.35 241.89
2 V Kohli 38.59 86.50 96.44 221.52
3 RS Dravid 33.72 75.51 103.24 212.47
4 GR Viswanath 36.46 69.67 94.27 200.40
5 DB Vengsarkar 33.02 63.39 94.51 190.92
6 VVS Laxman 31.24 66.54 90.62 188.40
7 RR Pant 26.24 59.37 97.81 183.42
8 M Amarnath 28.86 63.60 86.94 179.40
9 CA Pujara 30.91 66.02 78.69 175.62
10 M Azharuddin 29.62 60.49 75.92 166.03

OVERALL RATING

The OVERALL Rating is the addition of the points of all the above criteria. The rating is out of 1,000 Pts.

RANK OV RANK BATSMAN NAT PRI RAT CON RAT SEC RAT FIN RAT
1 1 SR Tendulkar IND 328.91 260.82 241.89 831.62
2 14 V Kohli IND 289.99 228.31 221.52 739.82
3 15 RS Dravid IND 289.93 236.29 212.47 738.69
4 36 VVS Laxman IND 257.63 192.83 188.40 638.87
5 39 GR Viswanath IND 246.82 177.65 200.40 624.88
6 40 DB Vengsarkar IND 247.53 181.82 190.92 620.28
7 44 M Azharuddin IND 251.43 183.10 166.03 600.56
8 45 CA Pujara IND 240.91 180.89 175.62 597.42
9 52 M Amarnath IND 217.13 181.18 179.40 577.72
10 56 RR Pant IND 216.74 170.14 183.42 570.30

BRIEF EXPLANATION

Dynamic Nature

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.

Trend Setter (TS)

  1. TS is the player who does the best in a criteria.
  2. The rating of all other players are calculated taking the TS as the benchmark. Example:-
  3. TS Runs: 2,000; Player X Runs: 1,000; Section Points: 250.00
  4. TS Points: 250.00 (Max)
  5. Player X Points: Runs/TS Runs X 250 = 1,000/2,000 X 250 = 125.00.
  6. Ratings of all sections are calculated similarly with Runs being replaced by the Criteria Stat.
  7. Know All About the Trend Setter
    8. .

Top Teams (TT)

  1. An opposition is counted as a TT considering its Win/Loss (WL) Ratios in last 7 years.
  2. Home, Away, In Asia, Outside Asia and Overall WL Ratio is considered.
  3. The WL Ratio should be more than a certain value overall or in specific condition.

Abbreviations

  1. AVE - Average or Runs/(Inns - Not Out)
  2. BF - Balls Faced
  3. FP - First Played by Year
  4. INF - Infinite
  5. LP - Last Played by Year
  6. MP - Middle Played or (FP+LP)/2
  7. NA - Not Applicable
  8. NI - Not In Top
  9. NK - Not Known
  10. NO, * - Not Out
  11. NQ - Not Qualified
  12. OPP - Opposition
  13. R4BF - Runs for available data of balls
  14. SR - Strike Rate or Runs/Balls
  15. TS - Trend Setter
  16. TT - Top Teams

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