Hashim Amla reaches 8000 ODI runs but misses out on record for quickest to the milestone

Hashim Amla is one of the most elegant batsman to have played for South Africa. Since his ODI debut on 2008, plenty of records have been broken by the wristy right-handed batsman.

Amla is one of the very few players who have an ODI century against all the Test playing nations. He was the fastest player to score 15 centuries in ODIs as he achieved the same in his 86th innings. He then scored his 16th century in his 94th innings, 17th century in his 98th innings, 18th century in his 102nd innings and 20th century in his 109th innings, all of them being the quickest numbers to reach there.

Amla was also the fastest player to score 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000 and 7000 runs in ODIs. He crossed 2000 runs in his 40th innings, 3000 runs in his 59th innings, 4000 runs in his 81st innings, 5000 runs in his 101st innings, 6000 runs in his 123rd innings and 7000 runs in his 150th innings.

He completed the 8000-run mark during today's World Cup match against New Zealand, in his 176th innings. He missed out on the record for being the quickest to get there though, as Virat Kohli, who completed 8000 runs in 175 innings, beat him by one innings.

Playing cautiously, Amla scored 55 off 83 before he was castled by a gem of a delivery by the left arm spinner Mitchell Santner. Much like South Africa, Amla hasn't been enjoying a great World Cup 2019, as this was the first 50+ score for the 36-year-old opener.

During the 5th game against Afghanistan, Amla needed 66 runs to jointly share the record with Kohli. Even though he didn't get out, he managed to reach just 41 by the time the required target of 126 was achieved by South Africa.

AB De Villiers (182 innings), Sourav Ganguly / Rohit Sharma (200 innings) and Ross Taylor (203 innings) are the rest of the top 5 quickest players to reach the 8000-run mark.

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