London: England star Jos Buttler surpassed West Indies legend Chris Gayle to become the second highest run-scorer in T20 cricket during the Centurion 2026 clash between Manchester Supergiants and London Spirit at Lord’s on Thursday.
Buttler reached the milestone despite scoring 16 runs off 11 balls with a four and a six.
The England wicketkeeper-batsman has now amassed 14,572 runs in 487 innings at a strike rate of 146.74, including 102 fifties and nine centuries.
Gayle, who was previously second, has slipped to third place with 14,562 runs in 455 innings at a strike rate of 144.75 with 88 fifties and 22 centuries.
Most runs in T20 cricket
- Kieran Pollard (West Indies) – 14,803
- Jos Buttler (England) – 14,572
- Chris Gayle (West Indies) – 14,562
- Alex Hales (England) – 14,449
- David Warner (Australia) – 14,284
- Virat Kohli (India) – 14,218
The all-time T20 run-scoring record is still held by West Indies all-rounder Kieran Pollard, who has amassed 14,803 runs in 663 innings at a strike rate of 151.02, including 70 fifties and two centuries. Buttler is currently 231 runs behind Pollard in the race for the top spot.
The 35-year-old has also enjoyed a remarkable international T20 career. In 160 T20Is for England, Buttler has scored 4,212 runs at a strike rate of 148.93 including 28 fifties and two centuries.
He is the third highest run-scorer in men’s T20I cricket, after Pakistan’s Babar Azam (4,596 runs) and India’s Rohit Sharma (4,231 runs).
Buttler is England’s greatest ever T20I batsman, becoming the only player from the country to cross the 3,000 and 4,000 run milestones in the format. Former captain Eoin Morgan is England’s second highest T20I run-scorer with 2,458 runs in 115 matches.
As captain, Buttler led England to the 2022 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup title in Australia, defeating Pakistan in the final.
He became only the second England captain to win the tournament after Paul Collingwood, who guided England to their first T20 World Cup victory in 2010, defeating Australia in the final in the West Indies.