5 best batting performances from Week 4 of 2023 World Cup ft. Rohit Sharma and Travis Head
The ongoing ICC men's ODI World Cup 2023 has now entered its second-last week of the group stages after an entertaining fourth week of the tournament.
After a total of 32 matches already played, teams are now looking to string together victories in order to increase their chances of entering the knockouts.
The fourth week of the competition started with a clash between England and Sri Lanka, where the latter team prevailed. The week came to its end with a one-sided encounter, where South Africa handed a 190-run defeat to New Zealand in Pune.
Once again centuries continued to pile on in the tournament as the previous seven days saw four individual scores of above 100. 3773
The pitches in India have largely been good for the batters, with a total of 3,773 runs getting scored by the 10 teams at a scoring rate of 5.48 across the last week.
On that note, let's take a look at the five best batting performances from Week 4 of the ongoing 2023 ODI World Cup.
Note: Only games from Match 25 (ENG vs SL) to Match 32 (NZ vs SA) of the World Cup have been taken into consideration.
#5 81 off 74 - Fakhar Zaman vs Bangladesh in Kolkata
![Fakhar Zaman for Pakistan [Getty Images]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2023/11/1ba63-16989042114271-1920.jpg?w=500)
After failing to go past the 35-run mark in his previous 11 innings, Fakhar Zaman made a fresh comeback when he scored a match-winning 81 against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
After four consecutive defeats, Pakistan needed an inspirational performance and their bowlers delivered by bundling out Bangladesh for 204 in the first innings.
In the run-chase, the Pakistani openers brought out their A-game as both Fakhar and Abdullah Shafique put the game to bed by piling up an opening stand of 128 runs. Both the batters played some glorious cricket strokes and brought up their respective fifties.
Fakhar, in particular, dealt only in sixes as he made the mid-wicket area his own. Despite getting dropped for previous five matches, the left-hander batted with authority and displayed why he is a true asset for Pakistan.
With three fours and seven lusty maximums, Zaman ended up with 81 runs off 74 balls as Pakistan comfortably chased down the target in 32.3 overs.
#4 133 off 118 - Rassie van der Dussen vs New Zealand in Pune
![Rassie van der Dussen celebrating his hundred vs New Zealand [Getty Images]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2023/11/12864-16989048181169-1920.jpg)
Bat first, score multiple centuries, pile up a daunting first-innings total, and win the game by a huge margin—this has been the routine for South Africa in the ongoing World Cup.
It all went as per the script for the Proteas once again in their recent battle against New Zealand in Pune. After being put into bat first, their top-order dominated the show as both Quinton de Kock and Rassie van der Dussen scored centuries.
While De Kock motored along, scoring 114 off 116, Rassie struggled to get the timing right from the start. At one point of time, he was batting at 53 off 73 balls and looked desperate to score runs quickly. With some serious big-hitters waiting in the dressing room, Rassie had to go all out.
Fortunately for him, the 34-year-old converted his scratchy fifty into a big one and ended up with a brilliant score of 133 off 118. Hitting nine boundaries and five sixes during his knock, Rassie's knock helped South Africa score 357/4.
A collective bowling effort saw the Proteas restrict the Kiwis to 167 and clinch their biggest ODI victory over them.
#3 116 off 89 - Rachin Ravindra vs Australia in Dharamsala
![Rachin Ravindra has been the find of the tournament. [Getty Images]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2023/11/18a75-16989056894963-1920.jpg)
With 415 runs at an average of 69.17, Rachin Ravindra is currently the second-highest run-getter of the tournament. The young New Zealand sensation has certainly been the star of the tournament, having taken on the onus of scoring massive runs for his side.
The left-hander has struck two hundreds thus far, and both have come against heavyweights, including England and Australia. While his maiden ODI World Cup hundred was special, his 116 against Australia almost helped New Zealand pull off a miracle.
Chasing 389, Ravindra batted at No. 3 and kept his wicket intact for a long time. The 23-year-old looked assured enough and took the Black Caps closer to the target. Without shying away from taking the aerial route from time to time, Ravindra smashed five sixes and nine boundaries.
While chasing totals around 400, a team needs two batters to go big. Although Ravindra did his best to pile up 116, no other Kiwi batter scored above 60.
He lost his wicket in the 41st over, bowled by Pat Cummins. Despite James Neesham's late blitz of 58 from 39 balls, New Zealand felt agonizingly short by just five runs of the target.
#2 87 off 101 - Rohit Sharma vs England in Lucknow
![Rohit Sharma during India v England - ICC World Cup 2023 [Getty]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2023/11/e515e-16989075412610-1920.jpg)
While Rohit Sharma has scored almost 400 runs in the ongoing tournament, his 87 has probably been the most important one. Amidst all his hard-hitting prowess and glamorous strokeplay, the Indian skipper put in a commendable batting effort and showcased why is one of the modern-day greats.
After England asked India to bat first in Lucknow, India had a dodgy start. With the surface doing a whole lot of things, India lost all three of Shubman Gill (9), Virat Kohli (0) and Shreyas Iyer (4) within 12 overs.
On a two-paced track, where stroke-making was difficult, Rohit scored at a decent rate and didn't allow the English spinners to dictate the terms. He used his feet to negate the spin and seam off the deck and smashed 10 boundaries and three sixes during his stay.
The 36-year-old batted for almost 37 overs and made 87 runs off 101 balls. How swiftly Rohit adapted himself to the conditions was phenomenal to see. Suryakumar Yadav also came out with a positive intent and made 49 to help India post 229/9 in their 50 overs.
In the second innings, the Indian pace duo of Jasprit Bumrah (3/32) and Mohammed Shami (4/22) wreaked havoc and skittled out the English for a mere 129 in 34.5 overs.
#1 109 off 67 - Travis Head vs New Zealand in Dharamsala
![Travis Head with the Player of the Match award [Getty Images]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2023/11/4828a-16989083741960-1920.jpg)
Almost 10 days after knocking tennis balls in a net session, Travis Head announced his comeback with a bang against New Zealand.
Returning after a fractured hand, Head smashed the third delivery he faced on his ODI World Cup debut for a four over mid-on. It was indeed the start of something special as Head, alongside David Warner, got Australia off to an outrageous start. The two left-handers gave no breathing space to any of the New Zealand bowlers and smashed 175 runs in just 19 overs.
Hammering the Kiwi bowlers for fun, Head's assault on New Zealand's wayward bowling was quite destructive. The southpaw raced away to his half-century in only 25 balls, which is the joint-fastest in the 2023 ODI World Cup.
He got a couple of reprieves on his way before bringing up his maiden ODI World Cup hundred in just 59 balls - the third fastest by an Australian in the quadrennial tournament.
The way Head was batting, he could've easily notched up a daddy hundred but was unfortunate to get clean bowled by Glenn Phillips.
Irrespective, his fiery knock proved to be a reason why other teams should worry erring in line against him.