Next in line for the feat is is Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who had recently crossed 24,000 runs.
Tendulkar has 17,178 runs in ODI cricket, 10 runs in the only T20 International he's played, and 12,812 Test runs at the time the landmark was reached.
He holds the record for most ODI and Test runs and centuries.
Tendulkar is clearly widening the gap between him and his contemporaries and it is certainly going to be difficult for anybody to catch up with the great batsman.