Highest Team Score in ODI Cricket World Cup History

Highest Team Score in ODI Cricket World Cup: From year to year

The ICC Cricket World Cup has witnessed plenty of run-scoring feasts by batting powerhouses like India, West Indies, England, Australia etc.

As we dive into yet another World Cup, let's look back at some of the biggest scores that the teams have plundered in each edition of the marquee event.

The stage was set by hosts England in the very first game of the inaugural World Cup in 1975 as they smashed what turned out to be the Highest Team Score in ODI Cricket World Cup- 334/4 in 60 overs.

Needless to say that they won the game without even breaking a sweat thanks to a bizarre knock of 36* off 174 from Sunil Gavaskar.

Four years later, defending champions West Indies notched up the Highest Team Score in ODI Cricket World Cup after they smashed 293/6 in the semi-final against Pakistan.

The chief orchestrator behind that total was legendary opener Gordon Greenidge, who accumulated a 107-ball 73.

West Indies went on to win the game by 50 runs and book their place in the 2nd successive final.

In the year 1983, Pakistan hammered 338/5 against Sri Lanka. It eventually turned out to be the Highest Team Score in ODI Cricket World Cup.

The 1987 edition saw Sir Vivian Richards at his very best as the Master Blaster pummelled a helpless Sri Lankan attack to the tune of a 125-ball 181 on a pristine batting deck in Karachi.

Richards hammered 16 4s and 7 6s in his knock, and it propelled the West Indies to an insurmountable 360/4 in 50 overs. This also proved to be comfortably the Highest Team Score in ODI Cricket World Cup.

After having been punished at the hands of Pakistan and the West Indies in 1983 and 1987, Sri Lanka scripted their own redemption by smashing the Highest Team Score in ODI Cricket World Cup in the succeeding two events- 1992 & 1996.

In 1992, the island nation gunned down Zimbabwe's total of 312/4 in the final over thanks to half-centuries from Roshan Mahanama (59 off 89), Athula Samarsekara (75 off 61) and skipper Arjuna Ranatunga (88* off 61).

It was the first instance of a side chasing down 300+ in an ODI.

Then, in 1996, the eventual champions went on to rack up the Highest Team Score in ODI Cricket World Cup total at the time- 398/5 vs Kenya. The score was built on a magnificent 115-ball 145 from Aravinda de Silva.

However, the tables turned for the worse in 1999, as the Indian duo of Sourav Ganguly (183 off 158) and Rahul Dravid (145 off 129) took a liking to their attack and went on to hammer daddy hundreds to help the Men in Blue rack up the Highest Team Score in ODI Cricket World Cup.

The same happened to India in 2003 as their hopes of lifting their 2nd World Cup trophy were crushed brutally by a rampaging Australian team-led by Ricky Ponting, who smashed the daylights out of the bowling attack to post a magical 140 and help his side rack up an impregnable 359/2 in 50 overs.

In 2007, following a shock defeat to Bangladesh, the Indian batsmen- Virender Sehwag (114 off 87), Yuvraj Singh (83 off 46) and Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar (57* off 29)- launched a fearsome attack to help India become the first-ever team to hammer 400+ runs in a World Cup game.

In 2011, India hosted the World Cup, alongside Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and in their very first outing- against Bangladesh- they hammered the Highest Team Score in ODI Cricket World Cup- 370/4 in 50 overs.

The onslaught was on the back of an imposing 175 from Virender Sehwag , and a maiden World Cup ton from Virat Kohli.

The 2015 World Cup saw co-hosts, Australia smash 417/5 against Afghanistan at the WACA in Perth to overhaul the previous record of the Highest Team Score in ODI Cricket World Cup. As mentioned above, the record was previously held by India.

The score was largely due to a typically blistering century from David Warner, who hammered a 133-ball 178 with the help of 19 4s and 5 6s.

In 2019, England led the run-scoring charts following their epic mauling of the Afghanistan attack.

Skipper Eoin Morgan smashed a record 17 sixes during his whirlwind 71-ball 148. His innings helped the eventual champions to rack up 397/6, which turned out to be the Highest Team Score in ODI Cricket World Cup.