Runs, boundaries, thrillers and more runs, this has been the scene in the shortest format of the game in the last few years. With more and more teams scoring more than 200 runs in an innings and teams chasing them out, it is quite obvious that we are in the era of batsmanship in T20 Cricket at the moment. With that, it would be very interesting to find out if any of the recent batters have gone on to break the record for most T20 runs in a calendar year.
Who has scored the most T20 runs in a calendar year?
To answer your query briefly, it is the West Indian batter Nicholas Pooran who holds the record for the most T20 runs in a calendar year, smashing 2331 runs in 2024 while playing in seven domestic leagues and international games.
With this, here are the top five batters with the most T20 runs in a calendar year.
#5 Nicholas Pooran | 1918* T20 runs in 2025
This is how good Nichoas Pooran has been in the last few years in T20 cricket. After retiring from international cricket just at the age of 29, the West Indian southpaw batter has been hitting bowlers out of the park for fun.
It would not surprise me or any other cricket fan if he goes on to break his own record and score the most T20 runs in a calendar year, with the number of domestic leagues he is playing.
In 2025, to date, he has played 63 games for five franchise teams around the globe (Lucknow Super Giants, MI Cape Town, MI Emirates, MI New York, Trinbago Knight Riders) and has scored 1918 T20 runs. This year, he has been striking at 149.26 and has already hit 121 sixes.
| Year | Matches | Runs | Centuries | Sixes |
| 2025 | 63 | 1918 | 1 | 121 |
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#4 Alex Hales | 1946 T20 runs in 2022
Former England opener Alex Hales nearly became the second-ever batter to hit the landmark of 2000 T20 runs in a calendar year when he smashed 1946 runs while playing for England, Islamabad United, Nottinghamshire, Sydney Thunder, and Trent Rockets Men.
After failing a recreational drug test in 2019, which had left him out of the ODI World Cup that year, which England eventually won, he revived his international career during the 2022 T20 World Cup when he got his lucky opportunity after Johnny Bristow broke his leg on a golf course.
After making 52 and 47 against New Zealand and Sri Lanka in the group stages, respectively, Hales will always be remembered for his unbeaten 86 against India in the semi-finals.
Across 15 T20 internationals that year, Hales scored 430 runs with an average of 132.03 and a strike rate of 145.27.
Along with the T20 World Cup 2022, he also went on to lift The Hundred tournament with the Trent Rockets franchise. Hales hit 218 fours in T20 cricket that year, which still stands as a record.
Hales finished that calendar year with 1,946 runs in 61 games at an average of 34.14 with a devastating strike rate of 155.68.
| Year | Matches | Runs | Strike rate |
| 2022 | 61 | 1946 | 155.68 |
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#3 Reeza Hendricks | 1970 T20 runs in 2024
In 2024, opener Reeza Hendricks broke AB de Villiers' long-standing record of 1580 runs in 2019 to become the South African player with the most T20 runs in a calendar year.
Despite starting the year with a solid 87 and 34 against West Indies in the series just before the T20 World Cup, Hendricks could not extend his form into the International Tournament, where South Africa finished as the runners-up.
However, he revived his form in the domestic franchise leagues as he finished with 304 runs in eight innings in the Pakistan Super League 2024.
Read also: Most sixes hit by any batter in IPL history
Although he could not do that well for Joburg Super Kings in the SA T20, Reeza scored 225 runs in just 6 matches for Dambulla Sixers in the Lankan Premier League.
Reeza then finished the calendar year with a fantastic series against Ireland and Pakistan. He also scored his maiden T20 international ton, against Pakistan, as he hit a stunning 117 off 63 balls to create the record for the highest T20 high score by South Africa. Next year, he went on to win the CSA T20I Player of the Year award for his outstanding 2024.
| Year | Matches | Runs | Strike rate |
| 2024 | 71 | 1970 | 132.03 |
#2 Mohammad Rizwan | 2036 T20 runs in 2021
2021 was the year of Mohammad Rizwan as the Pakistani wicket-keeper batter became the first batter to score more than 2000 T20 runs in a calendar year. While playing for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Multan Sultans, and the Pakistan National team, Rizwan featured in 48 games and scored 2036 runs at an average of 56.55.
Although his strike rate of 132.03 was questioned a few times, it was his consistent run-scoring ability that helped him become one of the best T20 batters in the World.
More than his performance for franchise teams, it was his international form that propelled him to break the record. For Pakistan, Riwan scored 1326 runs in 29 matches at an average of 73.66. Even his international strike rate of 134.89 was ahead of his overall career strike rate of 125.37.
Rizwan had started the year with a phenomenal unbeaten 104 against South Africa, and also played a match-winning innings of 79, which helped them beat India in a T20 World Cup match for the first time.
| Year | Matches | Runs | Average | Strike Rate |
| 2021 | 48 | 2036 | 56.55 | 132.03 |
Read Also: India vs Pakistan in World Cups | All Time Stats
#1. Nicholas Pooran | 2331 T20 runs in 2024
In 2024, Nicholas Pooran went on to break every T20 record of a calendar year as he scored 2,331 runs while playing for seven franchises and the West Indies national team across the year.
The left-handed power hitter played in 76 matches in 2024 and averaged 40.89 with a blistering strike rate of 157.39. Not only that, his 170 sixes in that calendar year are still a record to be broken, which looks like only he can break in the current calendar year. Earlier, Chris Gayle had the record of hitting the most sixes in T20 cricket in a calendar year when he hit 135 sixes in just 36 matches in 2015.
Pooran also broke AB de Villiers' record of most fifty-plus scores in 2019, with 16 fifty-plus scores, of which 14 came in franchise cricket and a couple for West Indies.
He started the year by helping MI Emirates lift the ILT20. In IPL 2024, while playing for Lucknow Super Giants, Pooran scored 499 runs in 14 matches at an average of 62.38 and a strike rate of 178.21. He then went on to hit 17 sixes in the T20 World Cup 2024, a record by any batter in an edition of the tournament.
Pooran went on to score 504 runs in the Caribbean Premier League for Trinbago Knight Riders, played seven games in the Major League Cricket for MI New York, and scored 227 runs in The Hundred for Northern Superchargers.
He finished the calendar year with 464 T20 runs with a strike rate of 142.33 for the West Indies, before calling it a day on his international career next year at just 29 years of age.
| Year | Matches | Runs | Strike rate | Sixes |
| 2024 | 76 | 2331 | 157.39 | 170 |