Rawalpindi [Pakistan], October 22 (ANI): England star batter Joe Root etched his name in the history books on Thursday, becoming the first England batter to breach the 8,000-run mark in One-Day Internationals (ODIs).
Root achieved the historic milestone during England's clash against Sri Lanka in the Pakistan ODI Tri-Series, scoring 69 off 66 deliveries, including eight fours. He reached the landmark in his 186th ODI innings.
Following his latest knock, Root's ODI career tally stands at 8,005 runs in 197 matches and 186 innings, at an average of 50.66 and a strike rate of 87.83.
The right-handed batter has registered 20 centuries and 49 half-centuries in the format, with a highest score of 166.
Root's landmark places him 1,048 runs ahead of former England skipper Eoin Morgan, who occupies second place on England's all-time ODI run-scoring list with 6957 runs in 225 matches under his belt.
Jos Buttler (5678), Ian Bell (5416) and Paul Collingwood (5092) complete the top five, with Root also leading the group in both career average and centuries.
Root made his ODI debut against India in Rajkot in 2013 and has since established himself as one of England's most consistent batters in the format.
In 2015 and 2016, he set consecutive records for the most runs scored by an England player across all formats in a calendar year, amassing 2,228 and 2,570 runs, respectively.
In 2016, he also came within five runs of breaking Michael Vaughan’s record of 1,481 Test runs for England in a calendar year, set in 2002.
Root was appointed England’s Test captain in 2017 following Alastair Cook’s resignation. During the second half of the decade, he remained a formidable presence in ODI cricket, scoring more than 900 runs in each of three consecutive years from 2017 to 2019.
He stepped away from the format in 2020 but returned in 2023, the year of the ODI World Cup. Although England endured a disappointing campaign, Root made a valuable contribution with three half-centuries. (ANI)
Joe Root scripts history, becomes first England batter to reach 8,000 ODI runs
