# Joe Root crosses 23,000 international runs, second fastest behind Kohli

2026-09-22T19:53:41+00:00 | Sports | Indian Opinion Desk

Corroboration: 3 independent outlets

England batter Joe Root became only the eighth cricketer and the first Englishman to cross 23,000 international runs during the first ODI against Sri Lanka at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday. The 35-year-old reached the mark in his 521st innings, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar's 522 innings, according to sports.ndtv.com and timesnownews.com. Virat Kohli remains the fastest, having done it in 490 innings. Root, dismissed for 44 off 52 balls, is England's leading run-scorer in both Tests and ODIs. rediff.com notes the elite club includes Tendulkar, Kohli, Rahul Dravid, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis. Root now has 23,041 runs across formats, with 14,278 in Tests and over 7,800 in ODIs.

## Indian Opinion Analysis

All three outlets report the milestone with neutral framing, focusing on Root's innings count and place in batting history. The key difference is emphasis: sports.ndtv.com and timesnownews.com lead with Root surpassing Tendulkar in speed, while rediff.com leads with him joining the club. The coverage is uniform straight reporting, as the story is a statistical achievement with no political or ideological angle. Root's next numerical target is Dravid's seventh spot, 1,167 runs ahead.

## Coverage

- rediff.com (neutral report) <https://www.rediff.com/cricket/report/23000-and-counting-root-joins-tendulkar-kohli-in-elite-batting-club/20260922.htm>
  Leads with Root joining elite club, omits Tendulkar comparison in headline
- sports.ndtv.com (neutral report) <https://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/joe-root-makes-history-surpasses-sachin-tendulkar-in-yet-another-record-book-12082035>
  Leads with Root surpassing Tendulkar in speed, adds context on Test records
- timesnownews.com (neutral report) <https://www.timesnownews.com/sports/cricket/joe-root-surpasses-sachin-tendulkar-reaches-massive-milestone-in-521-innings-article-156208453>
  Leads with Root exceeding Tendulkar, provides detailed innings-by-innings account

Tags: England, Joe Root, ODI, Sachin Tendulkar, Sri Lanka, Virat Kohli
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