Joe Root breaks another Sachin Tendulkar record

Joe Root has broken another Sachin Tendulkar record.

And this time, only Virat Kohli has managed to do it faster.

The England star reached 23,000 international runs during the first ODI against Sri Lanka at Chester le Street, becoming only the eighth batter in cricket history to reach the landmark.

But the interesting part is how quickly he got there.

Root needed 521 innings to reach 23,000 runs, beating Tendulkar, who required 522. Just one innings faster.

Kohli remains comfortably ahead of both, having reached the landmark in just 490 innings.

The fastest to 23,000 international runs are:

This is not the first Tendulkar record Root has taken. In 2024, he overtook the Indian great for the most runs scored in the fourth innings of Test matches. Earlier this month, Root also went past Tendulkar’s record of 68 Test fifties, registering his 69th against Pakistan.

Root entered the match needing only three runs to reach 23,000 and got there early in his innings.

The 35 year old eventually made 44 from 52 balls, with five fours, before being dismissed by Sri Lanka debutant Sachindu Colombage.

It also made Root the first England batter to reach 23,000 international runs and only the eighth player overall.

The others are Tendulkar, Kohli, Rahul Dravid, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis.

Root finished the innings with 23,041 international runs, placing him eighth on the all time list. Dravid is immediately above him with 24,208, leaving Root 1,167 runs behind the Indian great.

And the Tendulkar comparisons are unlikely to disappear.

Root already has 14,278 Test runs, leaving him 1,643 behind Tendulkar's all time Test record of 15,921.

For now, though, he has already beaten Tendulkar in one race.

Only Kohli got to 23,000 faster.