Stats: AB de Villiers breaks Sourav Ganguly's record

AB looked dangerous

After a gap of 13 years, Sourav Ganguly’s record of being the fastest to reach 8000 runs in one-day international (ODI) cricket has been broken by the swashbuckling AB de Villiers today. The South African batsman took 182 innings to reach the milestone whereas Ganguly belted the same numbers in 200 innings.

In the match against New Zealand, De Villiers played an important innings to give a strong platform to the Proteas, who finished at 283 for the loss of 7 wickets in 50 overs.

The Kiwis were desperate for De Villiers’ wicket because he looked in good rhythm and was becoming a headache for the bowlers. It was Doug Bracewell who finally brought relief to the visitors when he clean bowled De Villiers after the latter reached 64 runs off 48 balls which included 8 boundaries and 1 six.

Bracewell bowled a slower delivery, on a good length, and as De Villiers looked to drive through cover, the ball sneaked through bat and pad and hit the off stump. It was a massive wicket for New Zealand, but by then De Villiers had already entered the record books, for the umpteenth time.

Fastest to 8000 runs in ODIs

Player	Opposition	Ground	Debut	Time	Mats	Inns
AB de Villiers (Afr/SA)	New Zealand	Durban	2 Feb 2005	10y 205d	190	182
SC Ganguly (India)	West Indies	Nagpur	11 Jan 1992	10y 302d	208	200
SR Tendulkar (India)	Pakistan	Manchester	18 Dec 1989	9y 172d	217	210
BC Lara (WI)	Australia	St George's	9 Nov 1990	12y 204d	216	211
MS Dhoni (Asia/India)	New Zealand	Wellington	23 Dec 2004	9y 39d	243	214
Saeed Anwar (Pak)	Sri Lanka	Sharjah	1 Jan 1989	12y 102d	221	218
DL Haynes (WI)	Pakistan	Johannesburg	22 Feb 1978	15y 5d	220	219
RT Ponting (Aus/ICC)	England	Chester-le-Street	15 Feb 1995	10y 128d	225	220
CH Gayle (ICC/WI)	Bangladesh	Dhaka	11 Sep 1999	11y 174d	226	221
ME Waugh (Aus)	West Indies	Melbourne	11 Dec 1988	12y 60d	230	223

• De Villiers is the only batsman to score 8000 runs in less than 200 ODIs.
• It took De Villiers 10 years and 205 days to reach the landmark.