Four records held by India in the World Cup

The 2019 World Cup is set to be played in England from the end of May. India is one of the hot favorites along with hosts England to lift the trophy. India has always had a reputation of accelerating their performance in the ICC tournaments. They won their maiden World Cup under Kapil Dev in 1983.

Since then, they have come close to winning it in 1996 where they lost to Sri Lanka in the semi-final, and in 2003 where a dominant Aussie performance was too good for the Indians in the finals. After 28 year wait, the Indian team lifted their second World Cup in 2011 at Mumbai. The Men in Blue had a good run in 2015 as well before they eventually lost in semi-finals against Australia.

India and their players have set up and broken many records in the World cup history. Here’s a look at four of those special records:

#1 Most Runs in World Cup history

Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar has scored 2278 runs in 44 World Cup innings which easily makes him the highest run-scorer in the World Cup history. The little master first featured for India in a World Cup fixture in 1992 and carried India’s baton until India’s successful campaign in 2011.

1996 and 2003 were simply the editions for him to remember. He managed to cross 500 runs in 1996 and emerged as the highest run-getter in 2003 with a tally of 650 runs. India did really well in these two years but somehow failed to cross the finishing line.

Sachin had a decent outing even in the 2011 World Cup and scripted India’s success story at home. Apart from Sachin, no other batsman has ever crossed 2000 runs in the history of World Cups. Ricky Ponting, who is placed second with 1743 in 42 innings is the only player who comes the closest to Sachin’s tally.

Among Indians, only Sourav Ganguly has more than 1000 World Cup runs. This sums up how the little master has owned this tournament. He was fortunate enough to win a World Cup medal in his final attempt in 2011 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

#2 Highest 3rd and 9th Wicket partnership

Kapil Dev

Partnerships are always key in limited overs cricket. One such partnership tuned the history of Indian cricket. It was during the 1983 World Cup. Indian captain Kapil Dev came out to bat when India was reeling at 17/5. He had little partnerships for subsequent wickets but India was pushed to 140/8.

Kirmani joined Kapil and the pair added crucial 126 runs for the 9th wicket which is still a record in World Cup history. Kapil Dev scored unbeaten 175 and India won the game by 31 runs.

India also holds the record for highest 3rd wicket partnership when Dravid and Sachin shared 237 runs against Kenya in 1999 World cup. Both of them scored a century. Before this match, Sachin went to India in the middle of the World Cup to attend his father’s funeral and came back and scored a century to earn respect from millions of fans across the globe.

#3 Most runs in a World Cup edition by an individual

Sachin Tendulkar won the man of the tournament in 2003 World cup

The 2003 World cup is one of the most fondly remembered World Cups for all the Indian cricket fans. The main reason was the Sachin Tendulkar show that saw millions of fans glued to their TV sets through the entire course of the tournament.

The iconic Indian batsman amassed 673 runs in the edition and was heads and shoulders above the rest. Australian opener Matthew Hayden came close to breaking this record in the 2007 World Cup but ended with 659 runs, acquiring the 2nd place in the list of most runs by an individual in an edition of the World Cup.

Sachin also registered his highest ever World Cup score in the 2003 tournament when he scored 150+ against Namibia. He missed out on a few centuries too and scored an epic 98 against Pakistan's bowling attack which consisted of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar.

Sachin Tendulkar won the Man of the Tournament for his astounding run with the bat but unfortunately couldn’t take India home in the final, where India lost the battle against a much better Australian side.

#4 First 300-run partnership in World Cup history

Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid

ODI cricket had seen only four 300-run partnerships in cricket history. Two such partnerships came during the 1999 World Cup and both of them came from an Indian pair.

In a fixture against Sri Lanka at Taunton, the Indian pair of Ganguly and Dravid recorded the first ever 300 run partnership in the World Cup history. Also, this was the first time when a partnership of 300+ runs was recorded in an ODI encounter. The pair added 318 runs for the second wicket with both of them scoring over 140 runs.

Sourav Ganguly went on to score 183 runs which is the highest ever score by an Indian in the World Cup history. India posted a humongous 373 runs and won the game quite comfortably.

The record was eventually broken by the West Indian pair of Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels when they added 372 runs against Zimbabwe in 2015 edition of the tournament. This is still the highest ever partnership in ODI history for any wicket.