Stats: Imam-ul-haq becomes second fastest to complete 1000 runs in ODI cricket

Young Pakistani opener Imam-ul-haq joined the elite list of players with over 1000 runs in ODI cricket. The 23-year old southpaw became the second fastest to reach the milestone by scaling the 1000 run mountain in just 19 matches. He missed out on bagging the top honors in this list by just one match. The cricketer who is the fastest to achieve this milestone is Imam’s opening partner, Fakhar Zaman. Zaman had completed his 1000 ODI runs in just 18 matches.

Commenting on the knock that propelled Imam past the 1000-run mark, the innings came up in the third ODI against South Africa in Centurion. Pakistan opted to bat first and Imam looked in sublime touch right from the very beginning. He notched up his 5th ODI hundred as he anchored the Pakistani innings. He perished after scoring 101 off 116 deliveries with 8 boundaries to his name.

It has been a very successful journey for the youngster at the highest level thus far. He had arrived at the big stage in the 2017 home assignment against Sri Lanka in the UAE. Coming with the tag of being the nephew of legend Inzamam-ul-haq, Imam-ul-Haq did have some pressure to negotiate with. He did with ease and scored a brilliant century on his ODI debut to guide his side to a successful run chase.

Getting back to the list of players fastest to reach 1000 runs in ODI cricket, four Pakistani players feature in the list of top 10. The other two apart from Imam-ul-haq and Fakhar Zaman are Babar Azam (21 innings) and Azhar Ali (23 innings).

Legendary former cricketer Sir Viv Richards sit at the third spot in the list. He had reached the coveted number in 1980 in his 22nd match. No Indian cricketer features in this list of top 10 cricketers fastest to 1000 ODI runs, and neither does an Australian. The list, however, has a representation from the Associate nations, with Ryan ten Doeschate of Netherlands sitting at the 9th spot with his 1000 ODI runs coming in his 24th match.

Here are the cricketers fastest to 1000 runs in ODIs:

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