If you ask any batsman to list the objectives in their cricketing career – scoring a world cup century is almost a mandate on everyone’s list.
Yes, World Cup hundreds are always special, and only very few players have enjoyed it more than once in their careers.
In fact, Sachin Tendulkar has 6 World Cup centuries in his 6 World Cup appearances – the most by anyone on this planet.
But when it comes to scoring as many hundreds in a single world cup, Sachin has been left behind by few.
So, who scored the most number of hundreds in a single ODI World Cup tournament?
Rohit Sharma has hit 5 Centuries in World Cup 2019, the maximum number of centuries by any batsman in a single edition of the World Cup.
And here is the list of players who have scored more than 2 100s in a single edition of the 50-overs World Cup.
Most Centuries in a Single ODI World Cup
| BATSMEN | COUNTRY | HUNDREDS | YEAR |
|---|---|---|---|
| ROHIT SHARMA | IND | 5 | 2019 |
| KUMAR SANGAKKARA | SL | 4 | 2015 |
| QUINTON DE KOCK | SA | 4 | 2023 |
| MARK WAUGH | AUS | 3 | 1996 |
| SOURAV GANGULY | IND | 3 | 2003 |
| MATTHEW HAYDEN | AUS | 3 | 2007 |
| DAVID WARNER | AUS | 3 | 2019 |
| VIRAT KOHLI | IND | 3 | 2023 |
| RACHIN RAVINDRA | NZ | 3 | 2023 |
| GLENN TURNER | NZ | 2 | 1975 |
| GEOFF MARSH | AUS | 2 | 1987 |
| DAVID BOON | AUS | 2 | 1992 |
| RAMEEZ RAJA | PAK | 2 | 1992 |
| ARAVINDA DE SILVA | SL | 2 | 1996 |
| SACHIN TENDULKAR | IND | 2 | 1996 |
| RAHUL DRAVID | IND | 2 | 1999 |
| SAEED ANWAR | PAK | 2 | 1999 |
| MARVAN ATTAPATTU | SL | 2 | 2003 |
| RICKY PONTING | AUS | 2 | 2003 |
| SANATH JAYASURIYA | SL | 2 | 2007 |
| KEVIN PIETERSON | ENG | 2 | 2007 |
| AB DE VILLIERS | SA | 2 | 2011 |
| TILLAKARATNE DISLSHAN | SL | 2 | 2011 |
| MAHELA JAYAWARDENE | SL | 2 | 2011 |
| RYAN TEN DOESCHATE | NL | 2 | 2011 |
| SACHIN TENDULKAR | IND | 2 | 2011 |
| UPUL THARANGA | SL | 2 | 2011 |
| SHIKHAR DHAWAN | IND | 2 | 2015 |
| TILLAKARATNE DILSHAN | SL | 2 | 2015 |
| MARTIN GUPTILL | NZ | 2 | 2015 |
| MAHMUDULLAH | BAN | 2 | 2015 |
| BRENDAN TAYLOR | ZIM | 2 | 2015 |
| JONNY BAIRSTOW | ENG | 2 | 2019 |
| AARON FINCH | AUS | 2 | 2019 |
| JOE ROOT | ENG | 2 | 2019 |
| SHAKIB AL HASAN | BAN | 2 | 2019 |
| KANE WILLIAMSON | NZ | 2 | 2019 |
| RASSIE VAN DER DUSSEN | SA | 2 | 2023 |
| DAVID WARNER | AUS | 2 | 2023 |
Key Stats
Kumar Sangakkara, in the 2015 World Cup, scored 4 centuries in a row against Bangladesh (105*), England (117*), Australia (104) and Scotland (124).
With that, Sangakkara is the first and the only batsman to score 4 consecutive hundreds in ODI (leave aside World Cup).
Before all that, the Australian batsman – Mark Waugh in 1996, became the first-ever batsman to score 3 Centuries in a single edition of the world cup, who was then equaled by the Indian captain Sourav Ganguly in 2003 and Australia’s Mathew Hayden in 2007.
Besides that, there are 23 other times batsmen have scored 2 Centuries in a single world cup (check the above list).
Sachin Tendulkar and Tillakaratne Dilshan achieved this unique feat of getting twice into this list.
Sachin, in 1996 & 2011, and Dilshan, in 2011 & 2015, scored two hundred-scores in two editions of WC.
Other Sachin World Cup hundreds came in 1999 against Kenya and 2003 against Namibia.
Note: Sachin missed another century in the 2003 World Cup in the match against Pakistan by just 2 runs. Shoaib Akhtar dismissed him at 98.
And, like Sachin, Ricky Ponting, the two times World Cup-winning captain, also has scored centuries in 4 editions of the World Cup (1996, 2003, 2007 & 2011).
Ponting, in total, has got 5 (twice in 2003) centuries in 5 ODI World Cup appearances.
Conclusion
As I mentioned in the pre-tournament analysis of ODI World Cup 2019, this edition was expected to be the best chance for any batsmen in top form to get into the record tables, thanks to its round-robin format.
And, as expected, Rohit Sharma, with his otherworldly performance in the league stage, tops the above chart even before the commencement of the knock out stages.
