David Warner has become the fastest batter to reach 1,000 runs in the history of the ICC Cricket World Cup by breaking a previous record set by Indian cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar.
Warner claimed the milestone in his side Australia’s match against India at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.
Even though his side eventually lost the game by six wickets, Warner broke the 24-year-old record set by Tendulkar, widely known as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of the game.
The southpaw reached the record during his knock of 41 off 51 balls by taking just 19 innings to complete 1,000 runs in the World Cup.
Tendulkar earlier held the record after taking 20 innings to reach 1,000 runs during 1999’s 50-over World Cup. He held the record on his own for 16 years until South Africa’s AB de Villiers equalled it during the 2015 edition of the mega tournament.
In the list of other fastest batsmen to score 1,000 World Cup runs are West Indies great Vivian Richards and former India captain Sourav Ganguly (21 innings), both of whom jointly hold the third position.
Along with Warner, India skipper Rohit Sharma was also on track to break the record ahead of Sunday’s match in Chennai. But Sharma, who was 22 runs away from becoming the fastest player to 1,000 World Cup runs, got dismissed for a duck.
Had he scored 22 runs against the Australians, he would have taken an innings fewer than Warner. Sharma still has a chance to equal Warner’s record if he scores the runs during India’s next match in the ongoing World Cup.
On Sunday, Tendulkar lost another milestone from his decorated resume. Virat Kohli, who scored a match-winning 85 runs during India’s chase, surpassed the former cricketer in the record for most runs scored by an Indian in white-ball ICC tournaments.
Kohli now has 2,720 runs in ICC limited-overs events, one more than Tendulkar. The former batsman accumulated the remarkable record of 2,719 runs in just 58 innings, while Kohli took 64 innings to surpass that milestone.
Kohli claimed the milestone by participating in all three major white-ball ICC tournaments – the Cricket World Cup, the ODI Champions Trophy and the T20 World Cup.
Tendulkar, however, did not have the chance to display his skills in T20 World Cups as he had participated in only the ODI World Cup and ODI Champions Trophy before retiring from the sport.
Host India’s next outing in the ongoing World Cup is against Afghanistan on 11 October at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Australia’s next fixture is a big one as they face off against South Africa on 12 October in Lucknow.
