Introduction
Many might counter the reasoning behind talking about the specific number 7000. But there are factors which those that do this are missing. Talking about huge total runs in a format has other factors that might go out of our calculation.
These involve possible effects of injuries and other issues that might affect the natural performance (without statistical bias) of the player.
List Of Batsmen Who Scored Fastest 7000 Runs In ODI
| Name | Innings Taken To Make 7000th Run |
| Hashim Amla | 150 |
| Virat Kohli | 161 |
| AB de Villiers | 166 |
| Sourav Ganguly | 174 |
| Rohit Sharma | 181 |
| Brian Lara | 183 |
| Desmond Haynes | 187 |
| Jaques Kallis | 188 |
| Ross Taylor | 188 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 189 |
| Chris Gayle | 189 |
| MS Dhoni | 189 |
| Ricky Ponting | 192 |
| Saeed Anwar | 194 |
| Michael Clarke | 195 |
Batsmen Who Scored Fastest 7000 Runs In ODI
1. Hashim Amla
Surprisingly, Amla, who is at the top of this list managed to make just 8113 runs at the end of his illustrious career. This shows us what happens when a batsman scores consistently even for a short number of innings (150 in this case). Amla also has a brother involved in cricket.
2. Virat Kohli
The fittest vegan cricketer has it all as a batsman. The grit that takes him to greater individual scores like never before and this is evident by him making about 59.07 runs in every inning that he batted. He also has a good chance at breaking Tendulkar’s record in terms of number of ODI centuries as well.
3. AB de Villiers
His average of 53.50 is a testimony to the fact why he came in 3rd in this list. While he managed to play just 228 matches in his career, he scored about 9500 notches while hitting 25 tonnes and 53 fifties. ABD still is considered to be one of the best cricketers that have ever been involved in the game.
4. Sourav Ganguly
Dada takes us back to the time when we won the Netwest series under his leadership. While he might have become the BCCI President today, there was a time when he was a feared batsman in both ODI and Test cricket. He too like MSD has a high score of 183 runs in ODI.
5. Rohit Sharma
Rohit presently is the most dominating batsman in the ODI scene. While he is on one of the top spots on this list, his ability to go beyond 200 run mark in a single inning has been proven a record 3 times to date. Will he go beyond that mark once more is something worth looking out for.
6. Brian Lara
Brian 400* Lara played 299 ODI matches and ended up making 10405 runs. Lara isn’t talked about much these days besides his 400-run test knock but he was a great ODI batsman too. An interesting fact about him is that he has 10 other brothers and sisters.
7. Desmond Haynes
Many might not about Haynes given his career ended in 1994 but he was a giant batsman who contributed a lot to the West Indies team. Those who might know about him may recall his memorable 148 run knock against Australia. For those wondering why this is memorable, the hint is that it was his debut match.
8. Jaques Kallis
The Proteas batsman is one of the favourite batsmen of many cricket fans irrespective of their country. His career lasted for almost two decades from 1995 to 2014 with him making 11579 ODI runs. Besides ODI, he was also a very successful test player as well.
9. Ross Taylor
Taylor’s career is progressing but he is 37 so he might retire in the near future. Besides being of Samoan decent, he is also the lead Kiwi scorer in both test and ODI format. Not just that, Taylor at one time was also the Kiwi skipper. Another thing that makes him stand out from others is his 6 feet tall frame.
10. Sachin Tendulkar
If you felt that the number of runs clocked by Punter were immense, wait till we tell you about Sachin’s notches. His mountain consists of 18426 ODI runs. Yes, more than double of 7000. But surprisingly, his average isn’t above 50 as many might assume first hand (44.83).
11. Chris Gayle
While some players get ‘old’ and this gets reflected in their on-field performance, there are some who just don’t. Gayle is one of them. Besides partying, he is also an excellent cricketer and batsman. Chris is also one of the few who managed to cross the 200 runs in an inning mark in ODI.
12. MS Dhoni
Mahi besides making it into this list ended his career while keeping the average number of runs scored in an inning above 50. He too didn’t score much centuries as compared to 50s but his top score was that 183* run knock in Jaipur against the Lankan team.
13. Ricky Ponting
Punter represented the Aussies in 375 matches and put up a mountain of runs. One thing that stands out in Ponting’s case is that while we are talking about those batsmen that scored fastest 7000 runs in ODI in this list, he went beyond that and scored nearly double 7000.
14. Saeed Anwar
Anwar was once also the Pakistani captain for the two major formats. While his batting average wasn’t that good (39.21), his total runs scored in the format were close to 9000. Saeed’s career lasted from 1989 to 2003. He also is the number one Pakistani cricketer in terms of number of ODI centuries.
15. Michael Clarke
While Clarke may have been the last batsman in this list, throughout his ODI career, he managed to maintain an average of 44.58 runs per inning. Though a not so good highlight of his career was his inability to convert half-centuries (58) to centuries (8).
Conclusion
These were the batsmen that made the fastest 7000 runs in ODI format. They with their professional grit have shown us that cricket as a sport is one that has endless possibilities. Hopefully, someone will break the existing record set by Hashim Amla someday.
