The ICC Cricket World Cup is an event that every cricket fan waits for as the marquee tournament happens once every 4 years, cricket teams from different continents clash with each other to lift the Cup, new cricket records are being made and old records are broken in World Cup matches, and there are numerous records that are being made since this event started back in 1975, and one of them is the maximum runs scored by a player during the ICC CWC. Here is the list of the top 5 players who gathered the most runs in a single edition of the World Cup tournament.
List of highest runs scored by batters in ICC ODI Cricket World Cup:
1. Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar, aka “God of Cricket,” comes top in the list of the highest runs scorer in the World Cup. Master blaster Tendulkar has played over 40 matches in the World Cup, representing India in six Cricket World Cups, and it was during the Cricket World Cup 2003 that he showed his class and pounded bowlers in the 11 matches he played, scoring 673 runs in a single tournament. No doubt for his amazing batting skills, he was rewarded with the player of the series award. His strike rate during the 2003 CWC was 61.18, and he hit one century and six fifties in this World Cup.
It was during the 2002 CWC when he scored his best in CWC history, which was 152 runs against Namibia. Until the 2019 CWC, no one had passed the total runs scored by Sachin Tendulkar in a single cricket World Cup.
2. Matthew Hayden:
Australia’s Former opening batter Matthew Hayden comes second in this list, as the left-handed batter amassed 659 runs in a single CWC, which was in 2007. During his prime, he looked invincible, and runs just didn’t stop coming out of his bat once he set his feet on the crease.
The left-handed batter throughout the 2007 World Cup edition smashed bowlers all over the park and scored three centuries and a fifty in the 11 matches he played in the 2007 CWC. Due to his splendid form, Australia retained the title that year; this was the fourth time Australia lifted the ICC ODI World Cup trophy.
3. Rohit Sharma:
The Indian right-handed batter Rohit Sharma is in the third position in terms of scoring runs in a single edition of the World Cup. The right-handed opener scored 648 runs in a single edition, and that was during the 2019 CWC, when he was in the extraordinary form of his career. The world cup was happening in England, and Rohit Sharma didn’t miss the chance to make a record of his own on English soil.
In the nine matches he played during the 2019 CWC, he smashed five centuries (the most by any batter in a single edition of the cricket world cup) and a half century to help his team reach the semi-finals, but his superb form faded in the semi-finals as India lost to New Zealand in the semi-finals. Rohit Sharma had a strike rate of 98.33 during that year’s World Cup.
4. David Warner:
Another Australian cricketer is on the list of those scoring runs in the World Cup after Mathew Hayden. The left-handed batter is a combination of class and aggression and still makes a regular appearance for the Australian side in all formats. David Warner, after returning from the ban (he was banned for ball tampering in 2018), was in splendid touch and finished the World Cup 2019 tournament as the second-highest run scorer, just behind Rohit Sharma.
The left-handed batter scored 647 runs, just 1 run short of the highest run scorer, Rohit Sharma, during the 2019 CWC. With a strike rate of 89.36, he scored 3 centuries and 3 fifties in the tournament. His form wasn’t enough to take Australia to the finals, as they lost in the semi-finals.
5. Shakib Al Hasan:
The only Bangladeshi cricketer in the list of the top 5 players with the highest runs in the ICC ODI CWC is the legendary Bangladeshi all-rounder and former Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan, who scored 606 runs in a single edition of the CWC. During the 2019 CWC, the left-handed batter was in his dream form, and with a strike rate of 96.04, he scored two centuries and five fifties in a single tournament. If he had played more matches in the 2019 Cricket World Cup, he might have finished as the highest run scorer in that CWC. Though he finished the tournament as the highest run scorer from his team. In 2023 ODI CWC there are chances of him being playing from his team, he is currently 36 years old as of 2023.
