New Delhi: On Friday, Pakistan batter Babar Azam became the joint-fastest cricketer to reach the milestone of 6000 runs in One-Day Internationals. The 30-year-old achieved the feat during the tri-series final match against New Zealand at the National Stadium in Karachi.
Babar scored 29 runs off 34 balls before returning a catch to Kiwi pacer Nathan Smith off his own bowling in the 12th over. The Pakistan opener needed just 10 runs ahead of his innings to complete the milestone. In the seventh over of the Pakistan innings, Jacob Duffy overpitched the ball outside the off-stump channel. And all Babar did was crunched the ball through the covers for a boundary to accomplish 6000 runs in ODIs.
Achieving the feat in his 123rd innings and 126th match, Babar joined former South African batting maestro Hashim Amla. Incidentally, the latter completed 6000 runs in his 126th game and 123rd innings during the fifth ODI match against India in Mumbai in their tour of 2015.
Amla had then went past Indian batter Virat Kohli’s record of getting the task completed in 144 matches and 136 innings.
Notably, Babar also broke Amla’s record for being the fastest to reach 5000 runs in ODIs. Babar completed the milestone in 97 innings while Amla took 101 innings to get to the mark. Amla holds the list of being the fastest to reach 3000 ODI runs (57 innings), 4000 ODI runs (81 innings), and 7000 ODI runs (150 innings).
Kohli holds the record for fastest to 8000 ODI runs (175 innings), 9000 ODI runs (194 innings), and 10000 ODI runs (205 innings).
The template was Kohli would set any record and Amla would go on to smash it and vice versa. Now, Babar is turned into a new challenger by rising up to the occasion. But the challenge before him apart from ensuring his own consistency is the decline of ODI matches over the years in the wake of avalanche of T20 global leagues and the ICC World Test Championship.
Pakistan’s Babar Azam achieved a remarkable feat, becoming the joint-fastest cricketer to reach 6,000 ODI runs in 123 innings. He achieved this milestone during the tri-series final against New Zealand in Karachi. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
