South African opening batsman Hashim Amla continues his dream form in as he scored another ton against Sri Lanka in their ICC Champions Trophy opener. Amla reached his 24th ODI century in 112 balls smashing five fours and two sixes in the process. His contribution has also helped South Africa reach a strong first innings total. While Amla has not been the aggressor in the innings, he has been a valuable anchor for the rest of his team mates to build innings.
Earlier in this week Hashim Amla shattered Virat Kohli’s ODI record during the third match between England and South Africa in Lord’s as he became the fastest to aggregate 7000 runs.
The South African opener reached the landmark ( in his 150th ODI innings) in the seventh over of the innings as he pulled England pacer Steven Finn to the deep square leg fence for a boundary.
Virat Kohli had held the record after he went past 7000 ODI runs in 169 innings. The current India skipper reached the milestone during the ODI against Australia in Melbourne in January 2016. It was a memorable match for Kohli as he slammed his 24th century, but India lost by three wickets.
It is not for the first time that Amla is breaking Kohli’s record. Previously, Amla had went forward by beating Kohli, as the fastest player, by achieving 6000 runs in 123 innings and by getting 5000 runs in 101 innings. The ODI records of fastest achieving 4000, 3000, and 2000 runs records are also on the name of Amla. He attained it in the 81, 57 and in 40th innings respectively. It is a rare record in the history of cricket itself.
The game which gave Amla, entry to the 7000 runs club was won by South Africa for 7 wickets. Amla scored 55 runs in 54 balls with the help of 11 boundaries. South Africa won the match by chasing down England’s 154 runs target with a cost of 3 wickets.
Amla did a brilliant performance in the IPL as well. He had scored more than 400 runs including two centuries.
