Decades Rating - Best Test Batsmen In 2000s

Top Test Batsmen of the Decade (2000 – 2009)

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This Rating takes into account only the matches played in the 2000s. Brief explanation of the ratings is given before each section (Detailed Explanation). Here are the Top 10 batsmen in Test Cricket in the 2000s.

*Note: All Test Ratings are updated till 2025-09-10

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. Non Asians Outside Asia
4.2.1.2. Asians In Asia
4.2.2. Unfamiliar Conditions Rating
4.2.2.1. Non Asians In Asia
4.2.2.2. Asians Outside Asia
4.3. CONDITIONS RATING
5. SECONDARY CRITERIA
5.1. TOP FORM AT HOME
5.2. TOP FORM AWAY
5.3. IMPACT INNS
5.4. SECONDARY RATING
6. DECADES RATING
7. TOP TEAMS
7.1. Top Teams In Asia
7.2. Top Teams Outside Asia

THE CRITERIA

CRITERIA CONSTITUENTS
Primary Runs, Average, Top Inns, Strike Rate
Conditions Home, Away, In Asia, Outside Asia
Secondary Top Form (Home & Away), Min 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 (TT) 50
Min Career Runs 1000

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

Criteria: Points For Runs Scored

RANK BATSMAN NAT INNS RUNS RAT
TS RT Ponting AUS 184 9458 200.00
1 RT Ponting AUS 184 9458 200.00
2 JH Kallis SA 174 8630 182.49
3 RS Dravid IND 179 8558 180.97
4 ML Hayden AUS 172 8364 176.87
5 DPMD Jayawardena SL 160 8187 173.12
6 KC Sangakkara SL 147 7549 159.63
7 SR Tendulkar IND 150 7129 150.75
8 Mohammad Yousuf PAK 121 6439 136.16
9 BC Lara WI 120 6380 134.91
10 V Sehwag IND 123 6248 132.12

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

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS Mohammad Yousuf 121 11 6439 58.54 55.78 250.00
1 Mohammad Yousuf 121 11 6439 58.54 55.78 250.00
2 JH Kallis 174 27 8630 58.71 55.62 249.30
3 RT Ponting 184 22 9458 58.38 54.41 243.88
4 BC Lara 120 2 6380 54.07 52.42 234.93
5 RS Dravid 179 23 8558 54.86 52.25 234.18
6 V Sehwag 123 4 6248 52.50 51.92 232.71
7 ML Hayden 172 14 8364 52.94 51.27 229.81
8 DPMD Jayawardena 160 12 8187 55.32 51.25 229.69
9 KC Sangakkara 147 10 7549 55.10 51.05 228.79
10 SR Tendulkar 150 16 7129 53.20 50.10 224.55

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS S Chanderpaul 121 20 5435 53.81 54.51 250.00
1 V Sehwag 101 3 5229 53.36 54.32 249.14
2 RT Ponting 131 11 6607 55.06 53.02 243.18
3 JH Kallis 120 14 5560 52.45 52.20 239.43
4 DPMD Jayawardena 118 7 5960 53.69 51.75 237.35
5 KC Sangakkara 105 6 5130 51.82 50.10 229.80
6 ML Hayden 127 8 5938 49.90 49.82 228.52
7 BC Lara 107 1 5355 50.52 49.54 227.21
8 RS Dravid 137 15 5959 48.84 48.44 222.19
9 Mohammad Yousuf 97 5 4471 48.60 47.88 219.59
10 SR Tendulkar 117 11 5050 47.64 46.55 213.51

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 V Sehwag 319 309 293 254 201* 201 195 253.14 150.00
1 V Sehwag 319 309 293 254 201* 201 195 253.14 150.00
2 DPMD Jayawardena 374 275 240 237 213* 195 167 243.00 143.99
3 BC Lara 400* 226 221 216 209 202 196 238.57 141.37
4 KC Sangakkara 287 270 232 230 222* 200* 192 233.29 138.23
5 RS Dravid 270 233 222 217 200* 180 177 214.14 126.89
6 RT Ponting 257 242 207 206 196 169 158 205.00 121.47
7 SR Tendulkar 248* 241* 201* 194* 193 176 176 204.14 120.97
8 Mohammad Yousuf 223 204* 203 202 192 192 191 201.00 119.10
9 ML Hayden 380 203 197 177 153 138 138 198.00 117.33
10 JH Kallis 189* 186 177 162 160 158 157* 169.86 100.65

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 Average 25
RANK BATSMAN R4BF BF SR R SR RAT
TS AC Gilchrist 5130 6259 81.96 78.58 150.00
1 V Sehwag 6248 7767 80.44 78.09 149.06
2 RT Ponting 9458 15129 62.52 59.80 114.15
3 ML Hayden 8364 13745 60.85 58.32 111.33
4 BC Lara 6380 10773 59.22 57.73 110.19
5 KC Sangakkara 7549 13594 55.53 54.06 103.19
6 SR Tendulkar 7129 13115 54.36 53.14 101.43
7 Mohammad Yousuf 6439 12144 53.02 52.17 99.59
8 DPMD Jayawardena 8187 15311 53.47 52.08 99.41
9 JH Kallis 8630 18557 46.51 45.16 86.20
10 RS Dravid 8558 19675 43.50 42.72 81.55

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 RT Ponting 200.00 487.06 121.47 114.15 922.69 369.08
2 V Sehwag 132.12 481.84 150.00 149.06 913.02 365.21
3 DPMD Jayawardena 173.12 467.04 143.99 99.41 883.56 353.42
4 ML Hayden 176.87 458.33 117.33 111.33 863.85 345.54
5 KC Sangakkara 159.63 458.59 138.23 103.19 859.65 343.86
6 JH Kallis 182.49 488.73 100.65 86.20 858.07 343.23
7 BC Lara 134.91 462.14 141.37 110.19 848.61 339.45
8 RS Dravid 180.97 456.37 126.89 81.55 845.78 338.31
9 Mohammad Yousuf 136.16 469.59 119.10 99.59 824.45 329.78
10 SR Tendulkar 150.75 438.07 120.97 101.43 811.22 324.49

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: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 RT Ponting 99 5333 65.04 62.51 930.88 27.93
2 DPMD Jayawardena 82 4910 66.35 54.65 927.07 27.81
3 ML Hayden 93 5033 59.21 63.47 864.90 25.95
4 V Sehwag 59 3202 56.18 80.55 851.95 25.56
5 JH Kallis 86 4770 63.60 50.21 841.59 25.25
6 KC Sangakkara 77 4233 59.62 56.87 825.17 24.76
7 Mohammad Yousuf 48 2997 69.70 53.66 779.26 23.38
8 BC Lara 57 3191 58.02 57.94 775.79 23.27
9 RS Dravid 79 3683 53.38 42.64 715.38 21.46
10 SR Tendulkar 71 3290 52.22 51.05 683.95 20.52

Away From Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 RS Dravid 100 4875 56.03 44.17 904.48 108.54
2 V Sehwag 64 3046 49.13 80.33 885.03 106.20
3 SR Tendulkar 79 3839 54.07 57.56 867.12 104.05
4 BC Lara 63 3189 50.62 60.56 850.21 102.03
5 RT Ponting 85 4125 51.56 62.53 833.91 100.07
6 Mohammad Yousuf 73 3442 51.37 52.48 808.10 96.97
7 JH Kallis 88 3860 53.61 42.62 804.99 96.60
8 KC Sangakkara 70 3316 50.24 53.91 804.85 96.58
9 ML Hayden 79 3331 45.63 57.28 766.93 92.03
10 DPMD Jayawardena 78 3277 44.28 51.80 733.33 88.00

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

Non Asians Outside Asia

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 RT Ponting 157 8421 61.92 63.37 947.57 28.43
2 JH Kallis 141 7171 59.76 47.53 837.27 25.12
3 ML Hayden 137 6701 53.61 61.16 829.21 24.88
4 BC Lara 109 5244 49.01 59.12 779.39 23.38

Asians In Asia

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 20

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 V Sehwag 75 4301 59.74 82.28 929.79 27.89
2 DPMD Jayawardena 114 6472 62.23 54.57 922.25 27.67
3 KC Sangakkara 103 5577 58.09 56.38 837.40 25.12
4 Mohammad Yousuf 72 3977 63.13 53.98 768.00 23.04
5 RS Dravid 107 5037 54.16 44.50 759.14 22.77
6 SR Tendulkar 90 4209 53.28 52.63 706.56 21.20

Unfamiliar Conditions Rating

Non Asians In Asia

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 BC Lara 11 1136 103.27 59.70 892.29 107.08
2 ML Hayden 35 1663 50.39 59.63 721.13 86.54
3 JH Kallis 33 1459 54.04 42.05 649.90 77.99
4 RT Ponting 27 1037 39.88 56.36 564.85 67.78

Asians Outside Asia

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 RS Dravid 72 3521 55.89 42.13 929.82 111.58
2 SR Tendulkar 60 2920 53.09 57.05 899.90 107.99
3 Mohammad Yousuf 49 2462 52.38 51.54 850.04 102.00
4 KC Sangakkara 44 1972 48.10 53.25 770.62 92.47
5 V Sehwag 48 1947 41.43 76.65 759.41 91.13
6 DPMD Jayawardena 46 1715 38.98 49.68 633.21 75.98

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 RS Dravid 108.54 21.46 111.58 22.77 264.35
2 BC Lara 102.03 23.27 107.08 23.38 255.76
3 SR Tendulkar 104.05 20.52 107.99 21.20 253.76
4 V Sehwag 106.20 25.56 91.13 27.89 250.79
5 Mohammad Yousuf 96.97 23.38 102.00 23.04 245.39
6 KC Sangakkara 96.58 24.76 92.47 25.12 238.93
7 ML Hayden 92.03 25.95 86.54 24.88 229.39
8 JH Kallis 96.60 25.25 77.99 25.12 224.95
9 RT Ponting 100.07 27.93 67.78 28.43 224.20
10 DPMD Jayawardena 88.00 27.81 75.98 27.67 219.46

SECONDARY CRITERIA

The Secondary Rating 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
Top Form Home 30.00
Top Form Away 120.00
Impact Innings 150.00
TF RATING

Points to note about Top Form Rating:-

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

TOP FORM AT HOME

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 15

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 BC Lara 30 2350 83.93 64.45 930.24 27.91
2 ML Hayden 30 2195 84.42 72.06 897.66 26.93
3 KC Sangakkara 30 2220 82.22 61.38 889.16 26.67
4 DPMD Jayawardena 30 2228 82.52 53.95 887.20 26.62
5 RT Ponting 30 2065 89.78 60.61 878.79 26.36
6 JH Kallis 30 2197 91.54 53.77 861.36 25.84
7 Mohammad Yousuf 30 2077 76.93 57.23 801.87 24.06
8 V Sehwag 30 1723 61.54 74.33 767.48 23.02
9 SR Tendulkar 30 1758 62.79 52.79 689.52 20.69
10 RS Dravid 30 1557 62.28 44.25 664.88 19.95

TOP FORM AWAY

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 15

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 RS Dravid 30 2209 88.36 48.87 936.17 112.34
2 V Sehwag 30 1782 61.45 85.10 839.80 100.78
3 RT Ponting 30 1966 75.62 66.49 828.47 99.42
4 SR Tendulkar 30 1809 75.38 55.59 827.43 99.29
5 BC Lara 30 1921 64.03 60.87 810.51 97.26
6 JH Kallis 30 1811 86.24 45.13 806.71 96.80
7 Mohammad Yousuf 30 1730 64.07 60.32 769.08 92.29
8 ML Hayden 30 1644 60.89 60.55 724.43 86.93
9 DPMD Jayawardena 30 1571 54.17 53.65 692.44 83.09
10 KC Sangakkara 30 1478 52.79 55.11 656.49 78.78

IMPACT INNS

II Rating

Impact Innings (II) are those innings which have a minimum 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 16.67% of the total runs of the higher total or
  • The runs are more than 10.00% of the total runs and
  • The SR is high or in a successful chase while being Not Out.

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 50

RANK BATSMAN DIS II II/Dis% RAT WTG
1 SR Tendulkar 134 55 41.04 890.22 133.53
2 RT Ponting 162 62 38.27 881.53 132.23
3 JH Kallis 147 58 39.46 865.35 129.80
4 Mohammad Yousuf 110 44 40.00 815.21 122.28
5 DPMD Jayawardena 148 54 36.49 793.93 119.09
6 V Sehwag 119 43 36.13 777.38 116.61
7 ML Hayden 158 54 34.18 769.79 115.47
8 RS Dravid 156 54 34.62 768.77 115.32
9 BC Lara 118 43 36.44 767.67 115.15
10 KC Sangakkara 137 44 32.12 702.56 105.38

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 TF HM TF AW II SEC RAT
1 RT Ponting 26.36 99.42 132.23 258.01
2 SR Tendulkar 20.69 99.29 133.53 253.51
3 JH Kallis 25.84 96.80 129.80 252.45
4 RS Dravid 19.95 112.34 115.32 247.60
5 V Sehwag 23.02 100.78 116.61 240.41
6 BC Lara 27.91 97.26 115.15 240.32
7 Mohammad Yousuf 24.06 92.29 122.28 238.63
8 ML Hayden 26.93 86.93 115.47 229.33
9 DPMD Jayawardena 26.62 83.09 119.09 228.80
10 KC Sangakkara 26.67 78.78 105.38 210.84

DECADES RATING

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

RANK BATSMAN NAT PRI RAT CON RAT SEC RAT FIN RAT
1 V Sehwag IND 365.21 250.79 240.41 856.40
2 RT Ponting AUS 369.08 224.20 258.01 851.29
3 RS Dravid IND 338.31 264.35 247.60 850.27
4 BC Lara WI 339.45 255.76 240.32 835.52
5 SR Tendulkar IND 324.49 253.76 253.51 831.75
6 JH Kallis SA 343.23 224.95 252.45 820.63
7 Mohammad Yousuf PAK 329.78 245.39 238.63 813.80
8 ML Hayden AUS 345.54 229.39 229.33 804.26
9 DPMD Jayawardena SL 353.42 219.46 228.80 801.69
10 KC Sangakkara SL 343.86 238.93 210.84 793.63

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 ENG SA
1970s PAK ENG IND WI SA AUS
1980s PAK WI ENG NZ AUS
1990s IND PAK SA AUS WI
2000s AUS IND SL PAK SA ENG
2010s IND PAK SL ENG SA AUS
2020s IND AUS PAK NZ ENG SA

Top Teams Outside Asia

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

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