Fastest 5000 runs in ODI: The modern-day batsmen have made it a habit of scoring runs on a consistent basis. With cricket becoming competitive by each passing day, cricketers are eager to perform regularly to retain their spots. However, very few batsmen have taken it to an all different level scoring runs for his team regularly.
The likes of Hashim Amla, Virat Kohli, and Kane William along with former cricketer namely Sir Viv Richards and Brian Lara made an early impact in their ODI career. While Kohli and Richards is a known factor, Amla and Williamson have taken cricket to a new level. They have shown tremendous consistency batting for long hours.
Most recently, Williamson entered into the top five list of batsmen to score fastest 5000 ODI runs. Williamson went past Gordon Greenidge to get there.
Here is the list of fastest top five batsmen to score Fastest 5000 runs in ODI Cricket
The opener from South Africa, Hashim Amla is the fastest to reach the 5000 runs mark in ODI cricket. A low-profile batsman, Amla does his bat do the talking on the ground.
Amla overtook Viv Richards and Virat Kohli to be the fastest batsmen in 2015 against West Indies. Further, he took only 101 innings to reach the landmark.
Making his debut in 2008, Amla has stormed as one of the premier batsmen for the Proteas. Also, he brings a sense of calm to a star-studded batting line-up.
So far, Amla has played 164 matches for South Africa scoring 7535 runs at an average of 50.23
Sir Viv Richards is the most destructive batsman of his era ripping apart top-class bowling attacks. Meanwhile, he is arguably the greatest hitter of the cricket ball. Part of the world-class West Indies team, Richards took the game to a whole new level.
Richards took 114 innings to reach the landmark. He scored his 5000 ODI runs in a game against England, way back in 1975.
Richards has played 187 ODIs in his career scoring 6721 runs with the highest score of 189*.
Virat Kohli (captain) of India celebrates his century, 100 runs during the 6th One Day International match between South Africa and India held at Supersport Park Cricket Ground in Centurion on the 16th Feb 2018
The run-machine Virat Kohli has made himself a modern-day great. He is currently the best ODI batsmen scoring runs all over the world. Further, he has made it a habit of breaking records everytime he gets in there.
A graduate of the age-group teams, Kohli also made his debut in 2008, months after Amla. However, he reached the landmark in 2013, two years ahead of the South African batsman.
Further, Kohli took 114 fixtures to score 5000 ODI runs. He reached the landmark in a game against Windies in Kochi.
Currently, Kohli is 412 runs short of 10,000 runs in ODI cricket. In the 208 ODIs he has played, Kohli has smashed 35 ODI hundreds and scored runs at an average of almost 58.
Brian Lara is known as the architect of left-hand batting and is the only left-hander to feature in the top five. Further, he is the second Windies player after Sir Viv Richards. Also, Lara is arguably the best left-handed batsmen to have graced the cricket field
Meanwhile, Lara took 118 games to reach the milestone. He reached the landmark in a game against South Africa in 1997.
Before his retirement, Lara amassed 10,405 runs in 299 games at an average of 40.48.
The Kiwi skipper is the latest addition when he leapfrogged Gordon Greenidge to get his name on the top five. Williamson reached the landmark earlier today against England. However, his unbeaten knock of 112 as England clinched victory in a nail-biter by four runs.
Williamson took one more inning than Lara and two short of Greenidge as he reached the landmark in 119 innings.
Meanwhile, Williamson is one the premier Kiwi batsman batting at one drop across formats. So far, the right-handed Williamson has scored 5097 runs in the 125 matches he has played.