Brook breaks world record as Root joins 8,000-run club

Harry Brook shattered Shubman Gill’s world record for the fastest ODI double century, reaching the landmark in just 114 balls against Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi on Thursday, only 22 days after the Indian captain set the previous mark.
Brook’s breathtaking 116-ball 202 powered England to 429-4 in 50 overs, their highest ODI total against Sri Lanka and the highest team score in an ODI on Pakistani soil.
Batting at number four, the England captain struck 21 fours and 10 sixes at a strike rate of 174.13 to become his country’s first ODI double centurion.
Gill had scored a 129-ball double century against West Indies on 30 September. Brook eclipsed that mark with a late assault after a relatively cautious start, reaching his half-century in 42 balls and his hundred in 75.
He accelerated dramatically thereafter, taking only 17 deliveries to move from 150 to 200. England plundered 156 runs in the final 10 overs, with Brook contributing 93 off 36 balls during that period.
Needing 14 runs in the final over to reach the double century, Brook brought up the milestone with a paddle-swept boundary off Janith Liyanage’s fourth delivery. He was caught at backward point off the final ball.
Brook also surpassed Ben Stokes’s previous England ODI record of 182, scored against New Zealand at The Oval in 2023.
Meanwhile, Joe Root became the first England batter to reach 8,000 ODI runs, crossing the milestone during his innings of 64. After 197 matches, Root has 8,005 runs at an average of 50.66. He is also England’s leading Test run-scorer, with 14,278 runs in 169 Tests. Brook has now joined West Indies great Chris Gayle as the only players to score a Test triple century, an ODI double century and a T20 international century.