The opening batters play a pivotal role in Test cricket, as they can make or break the team’s innings. However, opening the batting is not easy, as the openers need to show resilience while dealing with the new red ball.
Few openers embrace this challenge early in their careers, displaying their fondness for scoring runs against the best bowling attacks. In that process, some openers manage to strike off major milestones in record innings.
On that note, this article lists the top 10 fastest openers to 1000 runs in the Test format.
Fastest to 1000 Runs as Opener in Test
| Player | Innings to 1000 Runs as Opener | Time Taken |
|---|---|---|
| Herbert Sutcliffe (ENG) | 13 | 0y 258d |
| Leonard Hutton (ENG) | 16 | 1y 363d |
| Yashasvi Jaiswal (IND) | 16 | 0y 239d |
| Graeme Smith (SA) | 17 | 1y 145d |
| Herbie Collins (AUS) | 18 | 4y 2d |
| Mark Taylor (AUS) | 18 | 0y 316d |
| Aiden Markram (SA) | 18 | 0y 183d |
| Andrew Strauss (ENG) | 19 | 0y 227d |
| Mayank Agarwal (IND) | 19 | 1y 357d |
| Sherwin Campbell (WI) | 20 | 1y 293d |
Key Insights
13: Herbert Sutcliffe became the fastest opener to reach 1000 Test runs. The England opener took 13 innings to sur the landmark. Moreover, Sutcliffe is overall the fastest batter to score 1000 runs in the red-ball format.
183: The number of days taken by Aiden Markram to cross 1000 Test runs. The South African opener is the fastest to 1000 runs in of time taken. Markram made his Test debut on September 28, 2017 and breached the 1000-run mark on March 30, 2018.
6: There are over 20 opening batters who have slammed 1000 Test runs in 22 or fewer innings, with 6 of them being from Australia.
4: When Graeme Smith came to bat in his 17th Test innings, he was 1 run short of scoring 1000 runs. He took his 1000th run on the first ball of the innings, but he didn’t stop there and went on to hammer 259 runs off 370 balls against England.
