ICC World Cup 2019: 4 World Cup records that will be difficult to break

The ICC World Cup is cricket’s biggest event. It is the place where fables are written, legends are born, and history is made. Over the course of four decades, several players have enhanced their legacies and etched their names in the hearts of cricket lovers with some ethereal performances at cricket’s ‘showpiece event’.

The great Sir Vivian Richards blasted a stunning hundred against England in the final of the 1979 World Cup to enable the West Indies to lift the coveted trophy for the second time. Ricky Ponting plundered an unbeaten 140* in the 2003 World Cup final that just blew away the Indian bowling attack. The incomparable Sachin Tendulkar scored a bewitching 98 against India’s arch rivals Pakistan in the 2003 edition of the World Cup. MS Dhoni etched his name in Indian folklore when he scored 91* in the 2011 World Cup final and enabled India to lift the cup after 28 years.

The World Cup, has undoubtedly added aura to the players and enhanced their legends. As the 12th edition of the World Cup is approaching, let us look at four World Cup records that will be tough to break.

#4 Most Number Of wickets In World Cups - Glenn Mcgrath (71 Wickets)

Glenn McGrath picked up 71 wickets for Australia in World Cup cricket

Glenn McGrath will qualify as one of the greatest pacers that the sport has ever seen. His accuracy, his impeccable line and length, and his ability to get the ball to move both ways made him a lethal weapon for the Australians.

The legendary Australian paceman played 39 matches for Australia across four editions of the World Cup and picked up a staggering 71 wickets. The closest anyone has come to this record is Sri Lankan spin bowling legend Muttiah Muralitharan, who picked up 68 wickets across five editions of the World Cup.

Among active players, no one is even in the near vicinity of this record. New Zealand fast bowler Tim Southee is the closest right now, having picked up 33 wickets from the 17 matches that he played for New Zealand in the World Cup. But with him already being in his 30s, and with conditions favouring the batsmen these days, this record of the legendary McGrath may not be broken anytime soon.

#3 Most Number Of Runs In World Cups - Sachin Tendulkar (2278 Runs)

Across 6 editions of the World Cup, Tendulkar scored a colossal 2278 runs

Across six editions of the World Cup, India’s batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar scored a staggering 2278 runs, including six hundreds and 15 fifties, at an average of 56.95. Tendulkar is the only batsman in the history of World Cup cricket to score more than 2000 runs.

To understand the magnitude of this record held by Tendulkar, he leads his nearest competitor, Ponting by 535 runs. Among active players, Martin Guptill is the closest, having scored 809 runs for New Zealand, but he is nowhere even close to the Master Blaster.

#2 Most Number Of Fours In World Cups - Sachin Tendulkar (241 Fours)

Sachin Tendulkar is the only batsman to score more than 200 fours in World Cups

Tendulkar is the only batsman in World Cup history to score more than 200 fours. In the 45 matches that the Master Blaster played for India across six editions of the World Cup, he hit a mind-boggling 241 fours.

To put this record of Tendulkar into perspective, he leads his nearest competitor, Kumar Sangakkara by a colossal 94 fours. And, among active players, no batsman has scored more than 90 fours!

So, this record of Tendulkar too, will definitely stand the test of time.

#1 Most Hundreds in a Single Edition - Kumar Sangakkara (4)

Kumar Sangakkara scored a whopping 4 hundreds in the 2015 edition of the World Cup

In the 2015 edition of the edition of the World Cup, Kumar Sangakkara was in the form of his life. The legendary Sri Lankan batsman scored 541 runs from seven matches, including a whopping four hundreds. Across the 11 editions of the World Cup, this feat has never been achieved, and in all probability, it will be extremely difficult to replicate.

There have been just four batsmen who have scored more than four hundreds at World Cups, and Sangakkara scored four of them in one edition. Sangakkara was at his pristine best and destroyed bowling attacks in the 11th edition of the World Cup, and this record will be tough to break.

So, there you have it. These are the 4 World Cup records that I think will never be broken.