Babar Azam needed 123 innings to complete 6000 runs in ODI cricket, the joint-fastest to the milestone alongside Hashim Amla. He got to the landmark in the tri-series final against New Zealand in Karachi. Babar’s rise to joint-fastest pushes Virat Kohli down to No. 3 on the list – he had got there in 136 innings.
Before Babar, Saeed Anwar was the quickest to the landmark for Pakistan. Anwar had taken 162 innings, Babar bettered that by 39 innings.
Babar is also the fastest overall to reach 5000 ODI runs, accomplishing this in just 97 innings. He is the second-quickest to 4000 ODI runs, achieving it in 81 innings, one behind Amla (82).
Batting average of Babar in ODIs is 55.73. It is the highest for any batter at the time of reaching 6000 runs in men’s ODIs (that is, average at the end of the innings during which they completed the milestone).
The previous highest was by Michael Bevan, who averaged 54.70 when he reached 6000 runs in his 167th innings. There were 11 batters to score 6000-plus runs for Pakistan in ODIs, including Babar. Only three of these batters were younger than Babar when they got to 6000.
Babar was 30 years and 122 days old when he got there, behind Inzamam-ul-Haq (29y 86d), Mohammad Yousuf (30y 40d) and Shahid Afridi (30y 106d).
Babar has scored 19 ODI hundreds so far, the second-most for Pakistan in the format, one behind Saeed Anwar’s 20. Babar scored his 19th ODI ton in his 102nd innings, the fewest needed to get to No. 19 for any batter.
