On February 10, Kane Williamson, the New Zealand star batter and former captain, played a blistering 133 not out to steer his side to a 6-wicket victory chasing a target of 305 runs against South Africa. The right-handed batter is New Zealand’s leading run-scorer in international cricket, hitting 133 runs with the help of 13 fours and 2 sixes in an innings which lasted 113 balls at the Gaddafi Stadium.
In this game, Williamson became the fastest batter to score 7000 runs in ODIs. He required only 159 innings to get there, thus becoming the fastest to achieve that feat in history. At 34 years old,-and hailing from Tauranga-Williamson surpassed Virat Kohli, who took 161 innings to achieve the 7000-run mark in his 169th ODI match. Kohli has amassed 13,911 runs in 296 ODIs.
It is the former South African player, Hashim Amla, who holds the overall record as the fastest person to score 7000 runs in ODIs. In his playing days, Amla crossed the 7000-run mark in the 150th innings of his 153rd ODI match.
| Player | Country | Innings |
|---|---|---|
| Hashim Amla | South Africa | 150 |
| Kane Williamson | New Zealand | 159 |
| Virat Kohli | India | 161 |
| AB de Villiers | South Africa | 166 |
| Sourav Ganguly | India | 174 |
| Rohit Sharma | India | 181 |
| Brian Lara | West Indies | 183 |
| Martin Guptill | New Zealand | 186 |
| Desmond Haynes | West Indies | 187 |
| Jacques Kallis | South Africa | 188 |
| Ross Taylor | New Zealand | 188 |
Guptill was the previous New Zealand batter to achieve 7000 runs in ODIs in record time. Martin Guptill, a former opener who scored a century on his 50-over debut for the Black Caps, did it in the 186th innings of his 189th ODI match.
Williamson has been in red-hot form these days. In his last eight ODI matches for the 2000 Champions Trophy winners, he has scored one century and six half-centuries. Williamson would like to maintain his super show in the coming matches as well and help New Zealand win the Tri-Nation ODI series final first on February 14 in Karachi and then lead the Black Caps to ICC Champions Trophy 2025 glory.
In the 2025 edition of the Champions Trophy, New Zealand will open its campaign on February 19 against Pakistan at National Stadium in Karachi and then face Bangladesh on February 24 at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. New Zealand’s third and final Group A match is scheduled to take place in Dubai on March 2 against India.
