Stats: Batsmen fastest to 8000 ODI runs

It would be a surprise a few years ago if people said that an Indian batsman would start chasing Sachin Tendulkar’s record in just ten years time. Virat Kohli seemed to be a man destined to break all the records set in the cricketing arena. Before Virat Kohli, there were batsmen such as Sourav Ganguly and AB de Villiers who featured on the fastest list, but the right-handed Indian batsman set his sights on chasing down the records.

Kohli began the tournament with less than 300 runs required to become the fastest player to score 8000 runs in One Day Internationals, a task which was huge even for an in-form player such as Virat Kohli. The right-handed batsman began the tournament in red-hot form with a 68-ball 81 against arch-rivals Pakistan in the opening Group B fixture. The knock consisted of six boundaries and three sixes.

Kohli, however, failed to backup his first match performance against Asian side Sri Lanka, against whom he could not get off the mark, edging a good delivery straight to the hands of the keeper. The batsman, however, made sure that he would come back with a knock that would guide the Indian team home against the World No.1 side South Africa in a do-or-die encounter.

The right-hander followed his heroics against South Africa, with a well-made innings against Bangladesh in the second semi-final of the tournament. Batting at No.3, the right-hander came soon after the dismissal of the left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan with India requiring 178 runs to win the tie to reach the finals for the second campaign in a row.

The previous record of fastest to 8000 ODI runs was held by Virat Kohli’s RCB teammate and South Africa’s dynamic right-hander AB de Villiers. The Proteas’ batsman had scored 8000 runs in 182 innings, with the second best at that time being Sourav Ganguly who had achieved the same feat in 200 innings. The Indian skipper Kohli reached the milestone in just 175 innings, seven innings quicker than the South African batsman.

Here are the batsmen fastest to 8000 ODI runs: