Performing for India is still a significant aspiration for many Indian teenagers. However, hitting the most scores in a match, especially in the World Cup, is incredible.
Here is a compilation of Indian legends who have individually achieved the most runs for India in a World Cup match.
In the history of the World Cup, 32 legendary Indian players have achieved centuries in one-day international matches.
India had won 27 of those 32 innings. One match was drawn against England, and therefore only four were lost. It included the 1996 match against Sri Lanka, wherein Sachin’s 137 runs off 137 balls were lost in vain.
The second defeat came against Australia in 1999 when Ajay Jadeja struck an unbroken century. The third defeat came against South Africa in Nagpur in 2011, when South Africa defeated India and Sachin Tendulkar’s 111 off 101 balls was in vain. Finally, the fourth defeat came in the 2019 World Cup when England won in Birmingham.
Hitman Rohit Sharma and Sachin Tendulkar hold the title for hundreds by an Indian in such a world cup. In the cricket world cup, they had each scored six hundred.
Sourav Ganguly is the second most-honoured Indian batsman in the world cup with four hundred. With three hundred, Dhawan is ranked third. Kohli, Dravid, and Sehwag are in fourth place with two hundred apiece.
Let’s now peep into the highest scorers compilation.
Sourav Ganguly (183 runs against Sri Lanka,1999)
Sourav Ganguly smashed boundaries with abandon in a World Cup game in Taunton against Sri Lankan spinners. It was mentioned as the first-ever 300-run partnership in ODI cricket.
The Indian batters thrashed the defending champions. It was massive of the highest kind, which was unprecedented in cricket at the time.
In just 44.5 overs, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid put together ODI cricket’s first-ever 300-run partnership.
Ganguly blasted 7 sixes, 17 fours, and 158 balls in his best ODI of 183 runs. India scored 373 runs off 216 balls, and it was a win by 157 runs against Sri Lanka.
It all started with Arjuna Ranatunga winning the toss and electing to bowl. Then, when Chaminda Vaas delivered a stunning outswinger to dismiss Ganguly’s openers pair Sadagopan Ramesh in the first over, everything went as planned. But, it was one-way traffic once Dravid joined Ganguly in the middle.
Ganguly completed his century in 119 balls, and after reaching the three-figure mark, he unleashed a barrage of huge shots.
Ganguly scored his third fifty in just 24 balls, taking his score from 100 to 183 within only 39 balls. After reaching his century, the left-hander was brutal against Sri Lankan spinners Sanath Jayasuriya and Muttiah Muralitharan. He glided down the wicket, effortlessly smashing them over the boundary line.
Kapil Dev (175* vs Zimbabwe,1983)
India went from 17/5 to 266/8. Thanks to Kapil Dev’s undefeated 175 off 138 balls! It enabled them to overcome Zimbabwe with just 31 runs in the quarter-finals of the 1983 World Cup.
Kapil won the toss bat once at the Nevill Ground in Tunbridge. India’s top four were immediately dismissed for just nine runs as they refused to engage with Zimbabwe bowling attack Kevin Kapil and Peter Rawson.
With the removal of Patil and the defeat of Yashpal Sharma at another end, India was reduced to 17/5. From then, it was all Kapil Dev as he set up a 70-run sixth-wicket partnership with Roger Binny well before record 126-run ninth-wicket combination with Syed Kirmani helped India reach 266/8.
Kapil scored 175 runs from 138 balls, including 16 fours and 6 sixes. It would be his first century in one-day international cricket and the most incredible score by any batter at the time.
Virender Sehwag (175 runs vs Bangladesh,2011)
Virender Sehwag is one of India’s finest explosive strikers of all time. Sehwag, often known as ‘Viru,’ was known for his ability to play huge shots in any circumstance.
In his ODI career, he accumulated 8,273 runs and was known for going for the big hits. As a result, he maintained this approach throughout India’s successful 2011 World Cup campaign.
So now we’ll look at the 2011 ODI World Cup occasions when Virender Sehwag smashed a boundary on the opening ball.
India owned the 2011 Cricket World Cup by 87 runs against co-hosts Bangladesh. Thanks to Virender Sehwag’s career-best one-day performance of 175 runs!
Sehwag’s 140-ball innings included 14 boundaries and 5 sixes, matching Kapil Dev’s 175 not out from 1983, the 4th score in World Cup games.
Virender Sehwag opened the competition with a bang, blasting 175 off 140 balls to help India score a formidable 370/4. Virat Kohli, who reached three points off the last ball of the innings, also scored a century.
Sehwag’s innings were his most outstanding ODI score at the time and the highest single score in a World Cup opener, and the top rating by any hitter against Bangladesh in any ODI.
The 370 runs also shattered the record for most points scored in a World Cup opening, surpassing England’s 334 runs set in 1975.
Virender Sehwag, India’s premier batsman, hit a world-record-breaking 175 runs off 140 balls. It comprises 14 fours and 5 sixes.
A strike rate of 125 enabled India to build up a mammoth total of 370 against India in the World Cup’s opening game.
Virender Sehwag has become the first Indian batter to make a century on the first day of a World Cup and the eleventh overall player in Tournament History.
Virender Sehwag’s 175 was the highest performance by an Indian batter against Bangladesh in an ODI, beating Sourav Ganguly’s undefeated 135 in Dhaka in 2000. It was also the second-highest score against Bangladesh in ODIs, following Charles Coventry’s unbroken 194.
Sachin Tendulkar (152 runs vs Namibia,2003)
Following the 1996 Cricket World Cup, India organized the event. Because India was the host nation, the 2011 Cricket World Cup had been a high-pressure event for the squad. It was also Sachin Tendulkar’s final World Cup; therefore, all Indian players sought to take home the trophy for the God of Cricket and made a dream come true.
In 2003 world cup at city, Pietermaritzburg Sachin scored his 34th ODI century by 152 runs against Namibia (his best in world cup ever).This was Sachin’s 4th World Cup century as India won easily by 181 runs.
India had a well-balanced team and was one of the tournament favourites. In the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup, Sachin earned India’s leading run-scorer.
Therefore, Sachin Tendulkar was India’s all-time leading run-scorer. In the 2011 World Cup, Sachin was the second-best run-scorer. As he has done in every World Cup, Sachin Tendulkar wowed us with his incredible batting.
Tendulkar scored 482 runs in 9 innings, averaging 53.55, with the help of two half-centuries and two centuries.
Sachin Tendulkar struck a critical 53 runs off 68 balls with seven fours in the quarter-final clash in Ahmadabad, where India was looking to overcome Australia. He got an excellent score against the tournament’s top bowling up.
Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson were tossing cannon at the batsman during the play. So India came out on top and eliminated Australia from the 2011 World Cup thanks to Yuvraj Singh’s fifty and Sachin Tendulkar’s half-century.
Rahul Dravid (145 runs against Sri Lanka,1999)
As mentioned earlier,It was the first-ever 300-run partnership in ODI cricket.Rahul smashed 17 fours in a single innings to score his highest runs world cup ever scoring 145 of 129 balls at Taunton against Sri Lanka.
While ‘The Wall’ had earned Dravid a reputation since hitting 95 in his maiden Test over England in 1996, the experienced batsman took some time to solidify his place in the Indian One-day International team.
Dravid’s hitting was so sluggish in his early years that he was sometimes dismissed as a limited-overs player.
The Karnataka cricketer had hoped to participate in the World Cup, but he was a peripheral player in 1996 and did not make the cut.
Between the World Cups of 1996 and 1999, Dravid went through a difficult stretch. Dravid had an unremarkable year in 1998, scoring only one fifty and being dismissed from the team.
The middle-order batsman did score a run in 22 deliveries in one game against Bangladesh at home, demonstrating how much distance he had to travel to be considered for the 1999 World Cup.
Dravid would count himself fortunate since the following World Cup was held in England. Also, India would require a steady hand at No. 3 in seaming conditions.
Nevertheless, the batter started the year well with a century against New Zealand in Taupo and another against Sri Lanka in a tri-series at residence. Apart from those two innings, he also scored a total of half-centuries and finally made the team.
India made a dismal start to the competition, losing their first two games to South Africa & Zimbabwe. But on the other hand, Dravid had a great time with the bat throughout the tournament. So it was commencing with a 54 against the Proteas in the opening match.
He got back-to-back hundreds against Kenya’s 104 not-out and Sri Lanka’s 145, despite Sachin Tendulkar’s 140 not-out and Sourav Ganguly’s 183 stealing the spotlight on both occasions.
Dravid, though, continued to perform his job as a quiet hero, hitting two other fifties in the competition to end as the tournament’s leading scorer with 461 runs over eight games. It was 53 against England and 61 against Pakistan.
Wrapping Up
GamePlan Today Talks is now done with the highest score for India in World Cup. We will catch you all with yet another informative sports article.