The 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup came to an end with Australia thumping India in front of a packed Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad to lift their sixth trophy.
India and Australia’s dominance in the ODI format means that only players from these two countries feature in the list. Even in the 1990s, Rahul Dravid, Mohammed Azharuddin, and Sourav Ganguly dominated world cricket alongside Sachin Tendulkar while Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting were also well-known run accumulators.
On that note, here are the top five batters with the most runs in a single ICC Cricket World Cup campaign.
#5 David Warner (647 runs in 2019 CWC)
Australia finished second in the league stage of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup with David Warner amassing 647 runs from 10 innings. The left-hander scored three centuries and three half-centuries as his partnership with Aaron Finch at the top was one of the highlights of Australia’s campaign in the tournament.
Warner’s first half-century came against Afghanistan in the first match when he played an unbeaten innings of 89 runs to help Australia chase 208. After a single-digit score against West Indies, Warner scored 56 runs at the top against India.
Warner notched his first century against Pakistan when he posted 107 runs in the next game. The opening batter played a slow knock of 26 runs off 48 balls against Sri Lanka but returned with a swashbuckling innings of 166 runs from 147 balls against Bangladesh in a bid to help Australia post 381/5 by the end of 50 overs.
Warner scored 53 runs off 61 balls against England in his third half-century. His final century came against South Africa in the last group stage match as Australia fell 10 runs short against South Africa’s total of 325 runs.
#4 Rohit Sharma (648 runs in 2019 CWC)
Rohit Sharma was the highest run scorer of the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup
The 2019 ICC World Cup saw Rohit Sharma scoring runs for fun as he ended up as the tournament’s highest run scorer with 648 runs in only nine innings.
Rohit started the tournament with an unbeaten innings of 122 runs off 144 balls against South Africa as he helped the Men in Blue chase 228. He followed it with a half-century against Australia and a knock of 140 against Pakistan.
Rohit got out at a score of 1 run against Afghanistan and contributed 18 runs against West Indies as he suffered a momentary blip in form. But, he made a comeback against England with a 102-run knock in a losing cause. In the final two group stage matches against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, Rohit scored 104 from 92 balls and 103 runs off 94 balls respectively.
#3 Matthew Hayden (659 runs in 2007 CWC)
The 2007 World Cup saw Australia win their third consecutive Cricket World Cup with Matthew Hayden finishing as the highest run scorer with 659 runs in 10 innings. He started the tournament with a 60-run knock against Scotland and followed it with a 29 against the Netherlands.
Hayden scored his first century against South Africa as he posted 101 runs to finish the group stages. Hayden went on a carnage as he scored 158 against West Indies followed by an unbeaten 47 against Bangladesh.
A 41 against England halted the proceedings while he didn’t bat against Ireland. It was followed by another 41 against Sri Lanka. Australia finished the Super 8 stages with a 103 against Sri Lanka as Australia stayed unbeaten till then.
In the semi-finals, Hayden returned with a 41 against South Africa before playing a handy knock of 38 in the finals against Sri Lanka.
#2 Sachin Tendulkar (673 runs in 2003 CWC)
Tendulkar received the Best Player of the Tournament award in the 2003 Cricket World Cup
The 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup saw India fall agonizingly close to lifting the trophy with a loss against Australia in the final. However, Sachin left his mark in the cricketing world with gorgeous drives. After scoring 52 runs against the Netherlands in the first match, Sachin played a knock of 36 runs against Australia to save India’s face.
The ‘Master Blaster’ notched 81 runs off 91 balls against Zimbabwe before smashing 152 runs off 151 balls against Namibia. Sachin’s knock of 50 runs off 52 balls against England proved to be crucial as India won the contest by 82 runs. In the crunch encounter against Pakistan, the star batter scored 98 runs to help India chase the target of 274 with 26 balls to spare.
The Mumbai-born player fell cheaply at a score of 5 runs against Kenya in the Super Sixes before returning with a score of 97 runs against Sri Lanka. He scored only 15 runs against New Zealand before partnering with Sourav Ganguly for a 103-run partnership against Kenya where he scored a total of 83 runs.
In the final, Tendulkar crumbled at a minute score of 4 runs against Australia to finish the tournament on an anti-climactic note.
#1 Virat Kohli (765 runs in 2023 CWC)
Virat Kohli scored three centuries and six half-centuries in India’s run in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup where the Men in Blue ended as runners-up.
With Rohit, Ishan Kishan, and Shreyas Iyer getting out at 0, Virat Kohli played a crucial knock of 85 runs to arrest the slide and help India win the match by six wickets against Australia in the tournament opener.
Kohli played an unbeaten innings of 55 runs against Afghanistan as a total of 273 was chased in 35 overs itself. He failed against Pakistan with a score of 16 runs before replying with an unbeaten knock of 103 runs against Bangladesh to help his side chase the target. Virat fell 5 runs short against New Zealand in his bid to score consecutive centuries but played his part to help India win with two overs to spare.
Kohli got out on a duck against England before scoring 88 runs against Sri Lanka as India posted a mammoth 357 runs on the board. Kohli scored his second century with an unbeaten innings of 101 runs on a tough pitch against South Africa before getting dismissed at 51 runs against the Netherlands.
In the semi-finals against New Zealand, Kohli posted 117 runs helping India put a mammoth total of 397 runs on the board. In the final, the 35-year old got out at 54 by playing at a strike rate of 85.71 against Australia.