Rising to the occasion: Most centuries in ODI World Cup history
The ODI World Cup is still considered the most prestigious event in the cricket calendar. The performances in the 50-over tournament are remembered and cherished over the years. Many batsmen have made the occasion special with a century while legends have piled up multiple hundreds. Here are the batsmen who have scored the most centuries in ODI World Cups.
As of now, six players have scored a total of four hundreds in the World Cup. These are Mark Waugh, Sourav Ganguly, Mahela Jayawardene, T Dilshan, David Warner and AB de Villiers.
At the second spot, two batting legends are tied with five hundreds. Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara and Australia’s Ricky Ponting have both achieved this tally. Sangakkara struck four out of his five centuries in the 2015 edition and all these were consecutive knocks which is an ODI record.
Ponting featured in the 1996 World Cup for the first time where Australia reached the final against Sri Lanka. As the Australian captain in the 2003 World Cup, he smashed 140 not out versus India to claim the trophy for his nation. His final World Cup game was in Ahmedabad where he struck a century in the quarter-final against his favourite opponent, India.
The top spot is occupied by India’s finest batsmen. Sachin Tendulkar, the highest run-getter in World Cup history, has six WC centuries to his name. He began his journey in 1992 and struck his maiden WC hundred in the next edition. In 2003, Tendulkar hit 673 runs which is still the record for the most runs in a single edition. In 2011, he added two more hundreds to his overall tally.
Rohit Sharma has played in only two World Cups thus far but he is already at the top of the tally in this regard. In the 2015 World Cup, the Indian opener scored his maiden WC century against Bangladesh. He then went on to score five more WC centuries in the next edition which was held in England. He narrowly missed out on going past Tendulkar’s tally as he ended with 648 runs.
Sharma’s current age is 34 and by the time the next ODI World Cup is played, he will be 36. If his fitness up to the mark, he will be India’s key batsman and can aim to own the record for scoring the most centuries in World Cup history.
