Pakistan’s charismatic batter, Babar Azam, on Friday created another world record as he became the fastest player to score 5,000 runs in One Day International. The Pakistani skipper left several legendary players including Hashim Amla of South Africa, Viv Richards of West Indies and India’s Virat Kohli behind.
Azam, who’s occupied the world’s number-one ODI batter’s spot for two years, achieved this feat during Pakistan’s ODI clash against New Zealand. The stylish batter from Pakistan reached the 5,000-run milestone in his 97th innings of 99 ODI matches.
Batting first, Pakistan piled up a total of 334-6 in 50 overs with Azam leading from the front as he made 107 from 117 balls. Azam became the fastest player to reach 5,000 ODI runs when he completed 19 runs.
Amla had taken 101 innings to achieve this feat, beating the previous record jointly set by Kohli and Richards, who took 114 innings each to reach this milestone.
Azam also became the fastest to score 18 ODI centuries, surpassing Amla’s record of scoring the same number of tons in 102 innings.
Thanks to Azam’s knock that Pakistan have now taken 3-0 lead in the five-match ODI series. Pakistan are currently the world’s number one ODI team followed by Australia, India and England.
True to his humility, he did not make any reference to his 5,000 runs or the 18th ODI century in his post-match reaction on Twitter. He wrote, “I always believed in my team’s ability to achieve it, AlhumduLillah. Keep us all in your prayers.”
Pakistan and New Zealand will lock horns in the fourth ODI on Sunday at the National Stadium, Karachi.