ICC CWC'19: Babar Azam becomes 2nd fastest to reach 3000 ODI runs
Mumbai: On June 26, an inconsistent Pakistan side beat an unbeaten New Zealand side to keep its hopes of reaching the semis alive. Pakistan rode on 24-year-old Babar Azam who scored an unbeaten 101 to guide his team to its third victory. However, while Azam was guiding his team home, the aggressive batsman also broke few records on the path.
Babar Azam became the second quickest to score 3000 ODI runs; he crossed West Indies legend Sir Vivian Richards who took 69 innings to achieve this record. Although, Azam took one innings fewer (68) to score 3000 runs. Babar remained just behind South African Opener Hashim Amla who took 57 innings to touch the milestone.
Surprisingly, Azam reached this feat faster than his idol Virat Kohli who took 75 innings to touch the feat. Babar also reached 1,000 runs in 21 innings and 2,000 run-marks in 45 innings than Indian captain Virat Kohli (24 innings to 1000 runs and 53innings to 2000 runs).
Additionally, Babar was the first middle-order Pakistani batsman to hit a World Cup ton after 32 years. Javed Miandad (101) and Saleem Malik (100) had scored centuries during the 1987 World Cup.