On This Day in 2019: Rohit Sharma records the first-ever five-century World Cup scoring feat

During the 2019 ODI World Cup, current Indian captain Rohit Sharma made history in cricket by batting with an unprecedented display.

He made history on July 6, 2019, when he became the first batter to score five hundreds in a single 50-over World Cup.

At the Headingley in Leeds, during India’s final group stage match versus Sri Lanka, the right-handed batter accomplished this feat. Prior to this match, Rohit had earlier in the tournament scored 122*, 140, 102, and 104 against South Africa, Pakistan, England, and Bangladesh. Out of these four games, the Men in Blue had won three, with their lone loss coming to eventual champions England.

With seven wickets and 39 balls remaining in the match against Sri Lanka, India managed to chase down a 265-run goal thanks to the Mumbai batsman’s 103 off 94 balls. Angelo Mathews’ century in the opening innings was for nothing since KL Rahul also struck a century in that match. Rohit struck 14 fours and two sixes in his superb knock. He received Player of the Match recognition for his outstanding performance.

Rohit Sharma broke Kumar Sangakkara’s record of four tonnes in one ODI World Cup by reaching his fifth century of the competition. The legendary Sri Lankan batsman accomplished the feat in the 2015 ODI World Cup when he scored four hundreds in a row. In the format, Rohit’s century against Sri Lanka was his 27th.

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With a remarkable average of 81 and a strike rate of 98.33, Rohit amassed an amazing 648 runs in nine innings to conclude the tournament. At the 2019 ODI World Cup, he amassed the highest run total of any batsman. At the time, his 648 runs was the third-highest total in a World Cup edition.

But Virat Kohli scored 765 runs in the 2023 ODI World Cup, beating Sachin Tendulkar’s 673 runs to become the event’s best run scorer in a single edition.