De Villiers breaks record in first ODI

Out of the 632 fours South Africa one-day international captain AB de Villiers has struck throughout his career, his hook shot to fine-leg off Shane Watson on Friday doesn’t necessarily standout.

But that boundary took de Villiers past 7,000 ODI runs, and in doing so he became the fastest player in the format to reach the milestone.

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The 30-year-old took 166 innings to get to the landmark, eight innings faster than Sourav Ganguly who had previously held the title.

“Obviously I feel proud about that,” said de Villiers when asked how he felt owning the new world record.

“I like to talk about those things more when I’m at home with my family and so on, I don’t really like to focus on it too much.

“(There are) much more important things for me than that.

“Very happy with that (the record). (I’m) playing really good cricket at the moment and I’d like to continue doing that and lead from the front.”

De Villiers is in elite company. The players he is ahead of reads as a who’s-who of superstar batsmen in the history of the 50-over format.

While Ganguly held the record for 13 years, de Villiers is unlikely to hold top spot for very long.

India ODI run-chase wizard Virat Kohli is closing in the Proteas skipper, needing only 931 more runs in 28 innings (average of 33.25) to claim the record.