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Joe Root becomes second-fastest to 23,000 international runs: Key stats 
Root achieved the milestone in 521 innings (Image Source: X/@cricketcomau)

Joe Root becomes second-fastest to 23,000 international runs: Key stats 

Sep 23, 2026
10:42 am

What's the story

England's Joe Root has become the second-fastest batter in history to score 23,000 international runs. He achieved this milestone during the first ODI against Sri Lanka in Chester-le-Street on Tuesday. The feat came in his 521st international innings, one more than Indian cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar, who reached the landmark in 522 innings. India's Virat Kohli holds the record for fastest to reach this milestone in just 490 innings.

Milestone details

Root joins these names 

Root's historic innings saw him score 44 runs off 52 balls, including five boundaries.

He reached the landmark with a boundary, becoming the eighth batter overall and the first Englishman to score 23,000 international runs.

The other seven batters who have achieved this feat are Tendulkar, Kohli and Rahul Dravid of India; Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene of Sri Lanka; Ricky Ponting of Australia; and Jacques Kallis of South Africa.

International 

61 tons for England 

Across 394 international matches across formats, Root has now raced to 23,041 runs at an average of 49.87.

Alastair Cook remains the only other player to have scored over 15,000 runs for England across formats (15,737).

Root has 61 tons, the most for England in international cricket (50s: 122).

No other England batter has even 40 hundreds across all three formats.

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Cricket stats

Breakdown of Root's international runs

Coming to Root's overall stats in ODIs, he has raced to 7,870 runs from 193 matches at an average of 51.10.

This tally includes 20 tons and 48 fifties. No other England batter has touched the 7,000-run mark in the format.

In Tests, he has scored a whopping 14,278 runs from 169 matches at an average of 50.45. (41 hundreds and 69 fifties).

With 15,921 runs, only Tendulkar is ahead of him in terms of Test runs.

Having played his last T20I in 2019, Root has scored 893 runs across 32 games in the format at 35.72 (50s: 5).

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Future prospects

Can Root break Tendulkar's record for most Test appearances?

Root, who turns 36 in December, has been a consistent performer at the highest level.

He is also 31 Tests short of Tendulkar's record for most Test appearances.

Despite his Test cricket achievements being widely recognized, his ODI record has often been overlooked.

However, he continues to be one of England's top batsmen across formats with an impressive international run tally of over 23,000 runs and counting.

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