Four Indian players who have scored 3 or more centuries in an ODI tournament

Rohit Sharma is continuously breaking and making records in the ongoing edition of the World Cup. With his century against Sri Lanka in India’s last league stage game, he became the first player in the history of the game to score five centuries in a single edition of the World Cup.

He has also equalled Sachin Tendulkar’s record tally of six World Cup centuries, and Indian fans would want him to break that record in the knockout matches. Previously, Kumar Sangakkara held the record for scoring most number of centuries in an ODI tournament, four, in the last World Cup. Except him and Rohit, no player has scored more than 3 centuries in a single ODI tournament.

However, 19 other batters have made their entry in the hall of fame with 3 ODI centuries in a single tournament. Zaheer Abbas became the first player in the history of the game to register 3 centuries in a single series when he scored 346 runs at the 1982-83 Indo-Pak series in Pakistan.

David Gower soon followed suit with his brilliance at the 1982-83 Benson & Hedges World Series Cup. Amongst those 19 cricketers, 3 are Indians. Let us have a look at those four Indian stalwarts who scored 3 or more ODI centuries in a single series.

---

#1 Rohit Sharma (World Cup 2019)

Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma’s numbers certainly stand apart from the rest. He announced his arrival in the 2019 World Cup in style, scoring a century in India’s very first game. Against South Africa at Southampton, the Mumbai batsman scored an unbeaten 122. His second ton came in the all-important clash against Pakistan. The Pakistani seamers had no answers to his exquisite stroke-play, as he scored 140 runs from just 113 deliveries.

Rohit remained quiet for the next two games but then embarked on a record-breaking mission. He has since scored 3 centuries on the trot, the first of which came against hosts England. The 32-year-old scored 102 runs against England in a difficult run-chase. His next victim was Bangladesh, against whom Rohit scored 104 runs to set up a match-winning total. After the Tigers, he went on to hunt down the Lankan lions, scoring a 94-ball 103 against them to set up a comfortable chase.

#2 Virat Kohli (South Africa vs India; India vs West Indies, 2018)

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli has scored three centuries in a couple of ODI series, once against South Africa and the other against West Indies. India had a great time in South Africa around a year and a half ago, thanks to Kohli. His first ton came in the first match. Chasing a target of 270, he scored a 119-ball 112 which helped India chase down the total in the 46th over.

Kohli’s second century came in the 3rd ODI, at the same ground where Ganguly struck a ton against Kenya – Newlands. This time, the skipper scored an unbeaten 160 from 159 deliveries, hitting 12 fours in the process. His last and final century came in the 6th ODI. He wreaked havoc at SuperSport Park in Centurion and amassed 129 runs from just 96 deliveries. He remained unbeaten yet again.

Kohli equaled his own record just a few months later, when West Indies came to India. He scored 3 consecutive tons in that series, the first of which came at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. He played a mesmerizing knock of 157 runs a few days later at Visakhapatnam.

His third century at MCA Stadium in Pune did not see a favourable outcome as Shai Hope and Marlon Samuels’ expertise gave West Indies their first victory of that series. Kohli also the first Indian to smash three consetuive centuries in ODI history.

#3 VVS Laxman (VB Series 2003-04 )

VVS Laxman

Any match between two cricketing giants India and Australia is a special occasion, and the tri series down under produced many such occasions in the yesteryears. In the 2003-04 edition of the tournament, India failed to outplay their Australian counterparts, but VVS Laxman had a great tournament.

The man from Hyderabad scored three centuries in that series. His first century came against the hosts at Brisbane. Laxman scored an unbeaten 103 from just 113 deliveries to help India cross the 300-run mark. Australia eventually ended up losing the game by just 19 runs. His second ton came also against the Aussies, this time in Sydney. Laxman scored 106 runs from 130 balls and remained unbeaten yet again.

His third and final century came against Zimbabwe at Adelaide. After losing 3 wickets within the 4th over, Laxman steadied India’s innings by scoring a 138-ball 131. Banking on his efforts, India reached a total of 280. Zimbabwe fell agonizingly short as they could only score 277 runs.

#4 Sourav Ganguly (World Cup 2003)

Sourav Ganguly

The Indian cricket team nearly placed their hands on the World Cup for the second time in 2003. Skipper Sourav Ganguly led the team by example in that tournament. The then 30-year-old scored 3 centuries in the tournament, which helped India to secure a place in the final.

His first ton came against Namibia at City Oval, Pietermaritzburg. The man from West Bengal scored 112 runs from just 119 deliveries, which helped India post a humungous total of 311. His second century came two weeks later against Kenya at Newlands, Cape Town. Chasing a target of 226, Ganguly scored an unbeaten 107 which helped India chase the total in the 48th over.

His most important century came once again against Kenya, this time in an important semi-final. Dada’s unbeaten 114-ball 111helped India reach 270, a total that was very hard to chase at that time. In 11 matches, Ganguly ended up scoring 465 runs at an average of 58.