Fastest to 1000 runs in ODI cricket: Fakhar Zaman’s 18 innings

Fakhar Zaman reached 1,000 ODI runs in his 18th innings, the fewest on record. Shubman Gill is the fastest Indian on 19, level with Imam-ul-Haq, and nine players are now tied on 21.

Fakhar Zaman reached 1,000 runs in ODI cricket in his 18th innings, and nobody has done it faster. The Pakistan opener got there against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo on 22 July 2018, one year and 45 days after his debut.

Imam-ul-Haq and Shubman Gill are next on 19 innings, and Gill’s is the fastest by an Indian. Gill’s mark has not moved since January 2023, but the list below him has: three players have joined the 21-innings group since, and two more have come in on 22.

Fastest to 1000 runs in ODI cricket

Every player who has reached 1,000 ODI runs in 22 innings or fewer, complete to 10 September 2026. Ranked on innings; ties are ordered by date. Source: ESPNcricinfo.

Rank	Player	Team	Innings	Matches	Milestone match	Date
1	Fakhar Zaman	Pakistan	18	18	v Zimbabwe	22 July 2018
2	Imam-ul-Haq	Pakistan	19	19	v South Africa	25 January 2019
2	Shubman Gill	India	19	19	v New Zealand	18 January 2023
4	Vivian Richards	West Indies	21	22	v England	22 January 1980
4	Kevin Pietersen	England	21	27	v India	31 March 2006
4	Jonathan Trott	England	21	21	v Ireland	2 March 2011
4	Quinton de Kock	South Africa	21	21	v Zimbabwe	19 August 2014
4	Babar Azam	Pakistan	21	21	v Australia	19 January 2017
4	Rassie van der Dussen	South Africa	21	27	v Sri Lanka	2 September 2021
4	Dawid Malan	England	21	21	v New Zealand	15 September 2023
4	Ben Duckett	England	21	21	v Afghanistan	26 February 2025
4	Milind Kumar	United States	21	22	v U.A.E.	3 November 2025
13	Aqib Ilyas	Oman	22	24	v Netherlands	3 July 2023
13	Devon Conway	New Zealand	22	23	v England	5 October 2023

Innings, not matches

The record is counted in innings, and the two columns above do not always agree. A batter who is not needed still adds a match to his total, so a middle-order player can collect matches without collecting chances. Kevin Pietersen and Rassie van der Dussen both took 27 matches to bat 21 times; Vivian Richards played 22 for his 21.

That gap is where the common mistake sits. Virat Kohli reached 1,000 ODI runs in his 24th innings, which came in his 27th match — quick, but not quick enough for the list above, and the fastest Indian is Gill rather than Kohli.

Fakhar Zaman’s 18 innings

Fakhar made his ODI debut against South Africa at Birmingham on 7 June 2017, in the Champions Trophy, and had two fifties inside three innings. His fourth ODI was the final, against India at The Oval: 114 from 106 balls, Pakistan 338 for 4, India bowled out for 158, a win by 180 runs.

He passed 500 runs in his 12th innings and needed only six more for the next 500. By the time he crossed 1,000 he had six fifties, two hundreds and a double hundred — the 210 not out from 156 balls against Zimbabwe two days earlier, on the same ground.

The milestone innings itself was 85 from 83 balls. Pakistan made 364 for 4, held Zimbabwe to 233 for 4 and won by 131 runs.

Imam-ul-Haq, one innings behind

Six months later Imam-ul-Haq came within one innings of his team-mate. In his 19th, at Centurion on 25 January 2019, he made 101 from 116 balls and Pakistan posted 317 for 6.

It was not a winning hundred. Rain cut the chase short and South Africa took the match on the D/L method, 187 for 2 from 33 overs. Imam had five hundreds and four fifties to his name by then.

Shubman Gill, the fastest Indian

Gill needed 19 innings, and the one that took him past 1,000 was the biggest of his career. Against New Zealand at Hyderabad on 18 January 2023 he made 208 from 149 balls with 19 fours and nine sixes. India made 349 for 8, New Zealand were bowled out for 337, and India won by 12 runs.

It is one of only 12 double centuries in ODI cricket, and at 23 years and 132 days Gill is the youngest player to have made one.

Who has joined the list since 2023

Dawid Malan got there in his 21st innings, 127 from 114 balls against New Zealand at Lord’s on 15 September 2023. Devon Conway needed 22, and reached it with 152 not out from 121 balls against England at Ahmedabad on 5 October 2023, at the 2023 World Cup.

Ben Duckett is the slow-burn entry. He took 21 innings but eight years and 142 days from his debut, the longest wait of anyone in the table, and passed the mark with 38 from 45 against Afghanistan at Lahore in February 2025 — a match England lost by eight runs, chasing 326 and falling to 317.

Milind Kumar reached 1,000 for the United States in his 21st innings, with 123 not out from 125 balls against the U.A.E. at Dubai on 3 November 2025.

Innings and elapsed time are two different records

Fakhar’s one year and 45 days is the quickest of the fourteen players above, but it is not the quickest overall. Yasir Hameed reached 1,000 ODI runs in 242 days, faster in calendar terms than anyone else on ESPNcricinfo’s list — and it took him 24 innings to do it. A crowded schedule flatters the clock; only the innings count measures the batting.

Indians who reached 1000 ODI runs fastest

After Gill’s 19 innings come Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan on 24, then Navjot Singh Sidhu and Shreyas Iyer on 25 and Ishan Kishan on 26, who got there in June 2026.

Fastest to 1000 runs in ODI cricket: quick answers

Who reached 1,000 ODI runs in the fewest innings? Fakhar Zaman, in 18.

Who is the fastest Indian to 1,000 ODI runs? Shubman Gill, in 19 innings, in January 2023.

How many players have done it in 21 innings or fewer? Twelve.

Did Virat Kohli do it faster than Gill? No. Kohli took 24 innings, in his 27th match.

Who was quickest in elapsed time? Yasir Hameed, in 242 days from his debut, though he needed 24 innings.

See also our lists of the most centuries in ODI cricket and the most ODI centuries for India.

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Featured photo: AFP / Arif Ali