Indian captain Virat Kohli created a world record in the semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 against Bangladesh as he became the fastest batsman to reach 8,000 ODI runs. The 28-year-old batsman got to the milestone in just 175 innings (183 matches) and in the process broke the record that was previously held by South African ODI captain AB de Villiers.
The Indian batsman also became just the second batsman to have scored 8,000 ODI runs in under 200 innings after AB de Villiers, who took 182 innings to get to the milestone. The record was held by Sourav Ganguly for 13 years before AB de Villiers broke it against New Zealand in 2015 but the Proteas batsman’s record lasted less than two years as it was broken by his Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate.
Having lost the world record for the fastest to 7,000 ODI runs to Hashim Amla, Kohl has stepped on the accelerator in the Champions Trophy where he has scored three fifties in the four matches he has played.
Aside from his debut year in ODIs (2008), the Indian batsman has averaged below 40 in a calendar year in ODIs just once among all players who have played at least 100 ODIs, Kohli is one of only five players (others being AB de Villiers, Michael Bevan, MS Dhoni and Hashim Amla) to have a career ODI average in excess of 50.
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Among the top ten fastest to that mark, three of the top four are Indians, while there are four overall from the country. West Indies are the second-most represented country in the top ten with three players while Australia, South Africa and Pakistan all have one player in the top ten.
Here is the complete list of the fastest to 8,000 ODI runs (in terms of innings):
Fastest to 8,000 ODI runs
| No. | Player | Matches | Innings |
| 1 | Virat Kohli (India) | 183 | 175* |
| 2 | AB de Villiers (South Africa) | 190 | 182 |
| 3 | Sourav Ganguly (India) | 208 | 200 |
| 4 | Sachin Tendulkar (India) | 217 | 210 |
| 5 | Brian Lara (West Indies) | 216 | 211 |
| 6 | MS Dhoni (India) | 243 | 214 |
| 7 | Saeed Anwar (Pakistan) | 221 | 218 |
| 8 | Desmond Haynes (West Indies) | 220 | 219 |
| 9 | Ricky Ponting (Australia) | 225 | 220 |
| 10 | Chris Gayle (West Indies) | 226 | 221 |
NOTE: *Statistics accurate as of June 15, 2017.
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