6 batsmen who have scored the most Test runs between dismissals

From a professional cricketer's perspective, Test cricket has always been about virtues like patience, application, technique, perseverance and persistent hard work with bat and ball alike. History has seen great batsmen occupy the crease for long hours, grinding out tough runs in challenging runs; at the same time, the longest format has also witnessed cases where batsmen have remained unbeaten after accumulating hefty individual scores.

Before they were finally dismissed, they had built up mountains of runs across innings, and Sportskeeda looks back on 6 such cases, where big names consistently frustrated the opposition bowlers with massive runs.

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#6 Rahul Dravid – 473 runs

41*, 200*, 70* and 162: November 2000

India's crisis man whenever the going got tough, Rahul Dravid went unbeaten for 473 runs spread across four innings in November 2000. The golden run began against Bangladesh at Dhaka – that was the hosts' Test debut – in which the sturdy number three remained not out on 41 in a meagre run chase of 63. A week later, when Zimbabwe landed in India for a two-Test series and made 422 in the first game at Delhi, Dravid stood tall again with 200*, batting for just over nine hours, having added 213 with Sachin Tendulkar.

As if that was not enough, he returned in the second innings to haunt the visitors with a quick, unbeaten 70 in a successful chase of 190. Come the next game at Nagpur, Dravid's grittiness continued with a knock of 162 as India posted 609. Featuring in consecutive stands of 155 and 249 with SS Das and Tendulkar respectively, the knock lasted a little short of seven hours before his spree of runs was ended by the opposition captain Heath Streak.

#5 Kumar Sangakkara – 479 runs

Consecutive double centuries featured in Kumar Sangakkara's 473 unbeaten runs in 2007

200*, 222* and 57: July - November 2007

The stalwart of Sri Lanka cricket for more than a decade, one of Kumar Sangakkara's joyrides in international cricket came in 2007 when we went 479 runs in a row without giving his wicket away.

The journey began with the Colombo (RPS) Test against Bangladesh in July 2007, where in an innings win, he smacked 200* from number three after the visitors were blown away for 62 batting first. Sri Lanka posted 451, which proved enough to not bat again, with the southpaw batting for nearly eight hours.

Just days later, another dominating knock of 222* at Kandy – in the company of his old partner in crime Mahela Jayawardene, he added 311 for the third wicket – led Sri Lanka to another one-sided win. On flying to Australia in November, Sangakarra hit 57 in Hobart before Mitchell Johnson ended his tally of unbeaten innings.

However, had the southpaw managed to remain not out, his splendid knock of 192 in the second innings of the match would have meant he would have been in possession of the record of most runs without dismissal, something which would have still stood strong.

#4 Michael Clarke – 489 runs

Neither of Michael Clarke's knocks of 259* and 230 could lead Australia to a win against South Africa in 2012

259* and 230: November 2012

The only captain on the list, Michael Clarke danced his way to tremendous success in his first full year as Australia's captain. In his very first innings in 2012, he had hammered 329* against India at Sydney; and two games later came a 210 at Adelaide.

Come the home summer of 2012-13, Clarke blasted his third double hundred of the year with a commanding 259* at Brisbane against South Africa, who had Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander in their ranks. Clarke strung together 259 with Ed Cowan and then 228 with Mike Hussey – such was the frustration of the opposition captain Graeme Smith that even Hashim Amla had a bowl – as Australia recovered from 40/3 to post 565/5.

At Adelaide again in the following game, Clarke rushed to 230 with Australia tonking at will in the first innings. Yet again, it was a story of repairing the innings, which he did in the company of David Warner and Hussey. Unfortunately, however, neither score resulted in a win with rain at Brisbane and debutant Faf du Plessis at Adelaide keeping the games to a draw.

#3 Garry Sobers – 490 runs

Garry Sobers' 365* remains the highest score by a batsman on his first Test century

365* and 125: February - March 1958

The legendary Sir Garry Sobers announced himself on the international stage by converting his very first century into a mountain of a score. In 28 innings before his career-best score of 365* against Pakistan at Kingston in 1958, his highest score was 80, in just the previous innings. Sobers marched on to script a fascinating knock in an innings win, thus becoming the first man to hit a triple century in the same innings as his maiden hundred – since then, only Karun Nair has repeated the feat – and still holds the record of the highest score following a first Test century.

At Georgetown in the next match, Sobers smacked 125 and followed that up with an unbeaten 109 in a successful run chase of 317, thus missing out on accumulating as many as 599 runs before being sent back, a record which would have stood for the next 58 years. The great Sobers then went on to hit three Test hundreds in his next seven innings, with all three knocks coming in India in late 1958.

#2 Sachin Tendulkar - 497 runs

Sachin Tendulkar hit a then career-best of 241* at Sydney in 2004

241*, 60*, 194* and 2: January - April 2004

In the first six innings on the tour of Australia in 2003-04, Sachin Tendulkar had a total of 82 runs to his name, including two scores of nought. But the little master finally hit form – and how – in the final Test at Sydney by hitting his third Test double ton. A then career-best of 241* gave India early momentum in the series decider, and a second innings knock of 60* set Australia the challenge of batting deep so as to not lose the match and concede the series.

That match – and eventually the series – was drawn, but in India's next Test – at Multan two months later – he remained stranded on 194. Rather, Rahul Dravid made that famous declaration for which he supposedly “could have been a millionare had I charged a penny each time for answering why I did so”. In the next match though, he fell for 2 at Lahore and ended a string of big scores, thus culminating into 497 runs at a stretch.

#1 Adam Voges – 614 runs

Adam Voges avegared 97.46 following his innings of 239 at Wellington in 2016

269*, 106* and 239: December 2015 - February 2016

A man who started his Test career like a dream aged 35, Adam Voges had shot up his average to a Bradmanesque 97.46 after his first 14 Tests. By then, he had slammed five centuries – three of them were unbeaten – and after his second double hundred, had accumulated 614 runs in a row without being dismissed.

That knock of 239 came at Wellington, but it wasn't without its share of controversy: Doug Bracewell was called for no-ball when Voges was bowled on 7, though replays indicated that the verdict was harsh on the bowler. Before that, however, he had ammassed 269* and 106* in consecutive innings against West Indies at Hobart and Melbourne, respectively during the home summer of 2015-16.

Eventually, Voges retired after 20 Tests and ended with a fantastic average of 61.87, a result of not hitting a single half-century in his last 11 innings.