Most runs in a single ODI World Cup

The prestigious 50-over World Cup is set to be hosted by India later this year, with defending champions England the favourites to defend their crown. The game has progressed at an unprecedented since the last edition of the tournament despite the onset of the global pandemic. Several records will be under threat in the upcoming edition of the ICC mega event, and one of them will be the record of a leading run-scorer in a single edition of the competition. On that note, we list the batters with the most amount of runs under their belt in one edition of the World Cup.

Rohit Sharma (India) – 648 runs, 2019

Indian opener Rohit Sharma has been one of the most consistent white-ball players in the last decade, and the flamboyant batter stamped his authority in the 2019 World Cup held in England. He started his World Cup campaign with a magnificent unbeaten 122 against South Africa and followed it up with another memorable ton against arch-rivals Pakistan. The influential Indian opener became the first cricketer to register five centuries in a single edition of the tournament after smashing three consecutive tons against England, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, respectively.

Matthew Hayden (Australia) – 659 runs, 2007

Former Australia opener Matthew Hayden was renowned for bullying the bowlers at the top of the order for his team during his playing days. The well-built opener started the 2007 edition of the World Cup with a brisk half-century against minnows Scotland in a one-sided victory. He finished as the leading run-getter of the tournament with 659 runs to his name which included three centuries, with the best coming against Trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand in the Super Eights clash.

Sachin Tendulkar (India) – 673 runs, 2003

It is hardly a surprise that the great Sachin Tendulkar takes first place in the list as the batting legend was at the top of his game in ICC events. His best run came in the 2003 World Cup held in South Africa, where he amassed 673 runs in just 11 matches in India’s run through to the final of the competition. While his solitary century of that year’s edition came against Namibia, he was dismissed in the nineties on two occasions. However, his knock of 98 runs against arch-rivals Pakistan went into the folklore as one of the greatest World Cup innings played by any batter in an India-Pakistan match.