World Cup History: 5 Batsmen with most runs in a World Cup
The World Cup has always been looked upon as the biggest tournament in the game of cricket. Started in 1975, we have now witnessed 12 successful editions of the tournament. Every edition has produced the cricket of the highest order and left its mark on the fans.
For any team to succeed, you need your batsmen to fire and your bowlers to take ten wickets consistently which is why individual performances matter a lot. The tournaments before the 90s were mostly bowler dominated whereas the editions after that provided more balance because of the flat nature of the wickets. But in this batsman dominated era, it is important to put runs on the board.
For instance, Martin Crowe played a huge role in taking the kiwis into the semis of 1992 World Cup scoring more than 450 runs. Similarly, we have seen Sachin at his best in the 1996 World Cup when he single-handedly won matches for the team.
Even in this World Cup, Rohit Sharma who is considered as the best opening batsman of this era has scored more than 600 runs in just 9 matches including five centuries that saw India dominate the league stages.
There have been instances in the past where the star player dominated the whole edition with the bat. Let us take a look at 5 batsmen who have scored most runs in a single edition.
#5 Shakib Al Hasan (606 runs) - 2019 World Cup
Perhaps, one of the greatest all-rounders of this era, Shakib Al Hasan has been one of the highlights of the 2019 World Cup. Even when his team struggled, Shakib fought consistently to take his team across the line.
Coming into the World Cup, he was named the vice-captain of the squad, given his experience and match-winning ability. He was in the groove from the very first match as he contributed with 75 runs that won them the match against the Proteas. In the same match, he became the fastest to take 250 wickets and score 5000 runs in ODI cricket.
He continued his great form against the Kiwis and England but couldn’t get the result the team needed. In the match against the West Indies, Bangladesh was reeling at 133 for 3 while chasing 322. In came Shakib and played the innings of his life; dismissing the West Indies pace attack to all corners of the ground and eventually chasing the total in 42 overs.
He made sure that his team were in the race for the final four till the end. The Southpaw finished the tourney with 606 runs with seven 50+ scores, equaling Sachin’s record from the 2003 edition. He was also a very economical and efficient 5th bowler taking 11 wickets in 8 matches.