KARACHI: Pakistani skipper Babar Azam has made a habit of breaking records no matter which format he is playing in and he has done it once again.
This time it's the "chase master" Virat Kohli whose record has been broken by the 28-year-old.
Azam, 28, became the fastest captain to 2000 ODI runs in just 31 innings, breaking Kohli's record who reached this feat in 36 innings.
He did it during the Pakistan vs Bangladesh encounter in the first Super Four match of that ongoing Asia Cup 2023 at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Wednesday.
Apart from those two, South Africa's AB de Villiers reached this milestone in 41 innings, Australia's Michael Clark in 47, India's MS Dhoni and England's Eoin Morgan each in 48.
It must be noted after making his debut against Zimbabwe in 2015 in Lahore, Azam has changed the fortunes of Pakistan cricket as the team which was recognised due to their batting failures has now turned into a match-winning outfit.
Calling Azam the key to Pakistan's success in the recent past would not be wrong on any level as he not only led this side to number one rank in ODIs but also performed consistently with the bat — with many records broken and some still to break.
Earlier, Azam broke former South Africa batter Hashim Amla's record as he became the fastest player to 19 ODI centuries.
Azam reached this feat in just 102 innings while Amla did it in his 104th.
As he broke Amla's record, he also became the fastest player to achieve this feat in ODI cricket.
It must be noted that Babar (5353 runs) also broke Amla's (5165) record of scoring most runs in 102 innings.
Earlier today, Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bat first against Pakistan in the first Super Four match of the Asian event.
The visitors posted 193 runs on the scoreboard in their first innings as their batting lineup was shattered by the Pakistani pace factory.
Lineups:
Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Agha Salman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf
Bangladesh: Mohammad Naim, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Litton Das, Towhid Hridoy, Shakib Al Hasan (c), Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Shamim Hossain, Afif Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Hasan Mahmud
Faizan Lakhani Faizan Lakhani is Deputy Editor (Sports) at Geo News.- Babar Azam