The record of fastest to 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000, 7000 & 8000 ODI runs

In the fifth ODI against India at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Hashim Amla completed 6000 runs in his ODI career. He reached the milestone in 123 innings averaging more than 52.

He accumulated only 89 runs in the five-match series but still reached 6000 runs 13 innings quicker than the previous record holder Virat Kohli who took 136 innings to get to the milestone.

With this milestone, at present, the record of fastest to 1000 runs and each milestone of 1000 runs after it till 8000 runs is all held by South African batsmen. Hashim Amla holds the record for 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000 and 6000 ODI runs while AB de Villiers the next two – 7000 and 8000 ODI runs.

Fastest to 1000 ODI runs is a joint record between four players which includes a batsman from South Africa – Viv Richards, Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott and Quinton de Kock (the South African).

With fastest to 1000 to 8000 ODI runs and playing all together at present, South African batting has become a challenge for the bowlers of all teams. They are scoring runs against all opponents, in all countries and in all type of conditions.

Let’s see about these records in detail.

Fastest to each 1000-run mark in ODIs

Fastest to

Present holder

Inns

Previous holder

Inns

1000 ODI runs

Viv Richards, Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott, Quinton de Kock

21

-

-

2000 ODI runs

Hashim Amla

40

Zaheer Abbas, Kevin Pietersen

45

3000 ODI runs

Hashim Amla

57

Viv Richards

69

4000 ODI runs

Hashim Amla

81

Viv Richards

88

5000 ODI runs

Hashim Amla

101

Viv Richards, Virat Kohli

114

6000 ODI runs

Hashim Amla

123

Virat Kohli

136

7000 ODI runs

AB de Villiers

166

Sourav Ganguly

174

8000 ODI runs

Virat Kohli

175

AB de Villiers182

Interestingly, Viv Richards was the first batsman to complete 1000 runs in One Day Internationals. He did so on January 22, 1980, in his 21st inning. Even 35 years since then no batsman has completed his career’s 1000 ODI runs in less than 21 innings.

Kevin Pietersen (2006), Jonathan Trott (2011) and Quinton de Kock (2014) equaled Viv Richards’ record, though. Incidentally, all these three were born in South Africa – Pietersen and Trott played for England whereas Quinton de Kock for South Africa.

Zaheer Abbas was the fastest to complete 2000 ODI runs in 45 innings in 1983. His record was unbeaten until Hashim Amla completed 2000 runs in just 40 innings. Before him, Kevin Pietersen in 2007 had equaled the record.

Viv Richards was the fastest to 3000, 4000, 5000 and 6000 ODI runs. He ended his career with 6721 runs. Hence couldn’t be the fastest to further milestones. His records for 3000 and 4000 ODI records were neither broken nor equaled by any batsman for about three decades.

Virat Kohli equaled Viv Richards’ record for fastest to 5000 ODI runs in 2013 and then broke the record for fastest to 6000 runs in 2014. But he was beaten by Hashim Amla by a long margin. He broke records of 3000, 4000, 5000 and 6000 runs doing it in many innings lesser than the previous record holder.

AB de Villiers surpassed Sourav Ganguly to become the fastest to 7000 and 8000 ODI runs. He now has 8403 ODI runs and if he goes on this way he will also become the fastest to 9000 ODI runs and the other milestones.

Therefore, from 1000 to 8000 ODI runs, all the milestones are to South African batsmen and they are targeting the further milestones too.

At present, Virat Kohli has 6831 runs in 158 innings and needs 169 runs in seven innings to break AB de Villiers’ record of fastest to 7000 ODI runs in 166 innings. Probably he will break the record soon. But, Hashim Amla is behind to break his records.

Fastest to further 1000-run marks

9000 runs – Sourav Ganguly in 228 innings (AB de Villiers has 8403 runs in 187 innings)

10000 runs – Sachin Tendulkar in 259 innings

11000 to 18000 runs – Sachin Tendulkar in 276, 300, 321, 350, 377, 399, 424 and 440 innings respectively

If AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli and Hashim Amla play with the same frequency till the end of their careers, it is sure that they will break all the milestones they reach in future.

The records of AB de Villiers will be broken by Virat Kohli and then Virat Kohli’s records will be surpassed by Hashim Amla till the end of their careers if all goes the same way.

Still, Hashim Amla’s records will always be difficult to break for any batsman in the future.