Stats: Fastest to 1,000 ODI runs
Over 3,500 ODIs may have been played since the introduction of the format and the scoring rates may have increased dramatically but Viv Richards’ record of 21 innings, remains the fastest any batsman has taken to score 1,000 ODI runs. Since then, four more players have managed to equal the record, including Pakistan’s Babar Azam but no one has been able to knock the West Indian legend off top spot.
In the third ODI against Australia, courtesy of his 84, Babar Azam crossed the 1,000 ODI run mark in his 21st match (21 innings) and equalled the West Indian legend as he jointly claimed the world record.
37 years have passed since Viv created history in the second final of the Benson & Hedges World Series Cup by crossing the 1,000 ODI run mark courtesy of his fifty, which also helped his side win the game and claim the title. Two Englishmen, a South African and a Pakistani batsman came agonisingly close to breaking the record but they were only able to equal the mark.
Babar Azam, Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott, Quinton de Kock and Viv Richards now jointly-hold the record for being the fastest to 1,000 ODI runs. Although all of them only took 21 innings to get to the mark, Azam, Trott and De Kock were the quickest in terms of matches as well, as they got there in just 21 matches, as supposed 22 games for Viv and 27 for Pietersen.
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Only three players, in the history of ODIs, have managed to get to 1,000 runs within a year of their debut. Pakistan’s Yasir Hameed got there in just 242 days and while his record of 24 innings taken to get to the mark is only joint-eighth fastest, it is the quickest in terms of days from ODI debut.
The only other two to have got to 1,000 ODI runs within a year of making their debut are England’s Chris Broad (current match referee and father of fast bowler Stuart Broad) and Zimbabwe’s Neil Johnson. While Broad got to the mark in 325 days (26 innings), it took Johnson 362 days (28 innings) to get to the mark.
As far as the top ten is concerned, four players are joint-top, followed by three players who are joint-fifth with five more sitting at eighth spot, having got to the milestone in 24 innings.
Among those, Azhar Ali, who got his in 23 innings, holds the Asian record of being the fastest to 1,000 ODI runs and is in sixth along with West Indies’ Gordon Greenidge and Netherlands’ Ryan ten Doeschate.
In ninth spot is where there are five players, including the only two Indians to make this list. Glenn Turner got to the mark in 1983 while the the turn of the millenium has seen four more players join him in eighth spot, having got to 1,000 ODI runs in just 24 innings.
Fastest to 1,000 ODI runs
| No | Batsman | Opposition | Matches | Innings | Year |
| 1 | Viv Richards (WI) | England | 22 | 21 | 1980 |
| 1 | Kevin Pietersen (ENG) | India | 27 | 21 | 2006 |
| 1 | Jonathan Trott (ENG) | Ireland | 21 | 21 | 2011 |
| 1 | Quinton de Kock (SA) | Zimbabwe | 21 | 21 | 2014 |
| 1 | Babar Azam (PAK) | Australia | 21 | 21 | 2017 |
| 6 | Gordon Greenidge (WI) | England | 23 | 23 | 1980 |
| 6 | Ryan ten Doeschate (NED) | Afghanistan | 24 | 23 | 2009 |
| 6 | Azhar Ali (PAK) | Sri Lanka | 23 | 23 | 2015 |
| 9 | Glenn Turner (NZ) | Australia | 25 | 24 | 1983 |
| 9 | Yasir Hameed (PAK) | New Zealand | 24 | 24 | 2004 |
| 9 | Hashim Amla (SA) | West Indies | 25 | 24 | 2010 |
| 9 | Virat Kohli (IND) | Sri Lanka | 27 | 24 | 2010 |
| 9 | Shikhar Dhawan (IND) | Australia | 24 | 24 | 2013 |