** Australian Ricky Ponting has the distinction of appearing in the maximum number of CWC matches – 46 from 1996 to 2011, in five CWC editions. However, Pakistani Javed Miandad (1975, 1979, 1983, 1987, 1992, 1996) and Sachin Tendulkar (1992, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011) have the honour of appearing in the six editions of the CWC, the most by any player! Several other players have appeared in the five editions of the CWC.
** West Indian Viv Richards is the first batter in the Cricket World Cup (CWC) to cross the run aggregate of 1000 runs. He achieved this landmark on 30 October 1987 in the Reliance WC match against Pakistan at Karachi during his knock of 67 runs. He was then aged 35 years, 237 days! Since then, 20 other batters have managed to emulate Richards by scoring over 1000 runs in the CWC.
** India’s Sachin Tendulkar is the only batter in the CWC to cross the run aggregate of 2000 runs. He achieved this landmark on 9 March 2011 in the CWC match against Netherlands at Delhi during his knock of 28 runs. He was then aged 37 years, 319 days! It was the 40th CWC match of his career. With a tally of 2278 runs in 45 games, Tendulkar is the highest run-getter in the CWC history! Australia’s Ricky Ponting has the second-highest aggregate with just 1743 runs!
** Both Sachin Tendulkar and South African AB de Villiers are the quickest to reach the aggregate of 1000 runs in CWC. They achieved the landmark in their 20th innings in 1999 and 2015, respectively. Tendulkar was 26y-45d when he did so in 1999, the youngest in CWC history (Virat Kohli was 30y-243d in 1999, the second youngest).
** Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal’s 51 against India at Port of Spain on 17 Mar 2007, made him the youngest to register a fifty in the CWC at 17 years, 362 days!
** Sri Lankan born Flavian Aponso, during his 58 for Netherlands against Pakistan at Lahore on 26 Feb 1996, at 43 years, 121 days became the oldest batter to score a fifty in the CWC.
** Ireland’s Paul Stirling was 20 years, 196 days when he made 101 against Netherlands on 18 Mar 2011 at Kolkata, thus making him the youngest to register a three-figure score in the CWC.
** Sri Lankan Tillekeratne Dilshan at 38 years, 148 days became the oldest to register a three-figure score in the CWC during his 104 against Scotland at Hobart on 11 Mar 2015.
** Sunil Gavaskar at 38 years, 113 days became the oldest to register a maiden century in the CWC during his 103* (in 85 balls) against New Zealand at Nagpur on 31 Oct 1987.
** Kapil Dev was 24 years, 163 days when he made his unbeaten 175 against Zimbabwe at Tunbridge Wells on 18 Jun 1983. He is the youngest to score a 150+ in the CWC.
** Sri Lankan Tillekeratne Dilshan at 38 years, 135 days became the oldest to register a 150+ score in the CWC during his unbeaten 161 against Bangladesh at Melbourne on 26 Feb 2015.
** Only two batters have the distinction of make a double century in the CWC and both came in the same tournament in 2015 but in different countries – in Australia and New Zealand! West Indian Chris Gayle was 35 years, 156 days when he made 215 against Zimbabwe at Canberra on 24 Feb 2015, while New Zealand’s Martin Guptill was 28 years, 172 days during his unbeaten 237 against West Indies at Wellington on 21 Mar 2015!
** Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma have hit the maximum number of centuries in CWC. They have six centuries each. However, Rohit Sharma has hit five during the 2019 edition, the most by any batter!
** Pakistani Wasim Akram in the 2003 CWC in South Africa became the first bowler to claimed 50 wickets in the CWC. Since then, only three other bowlers have managed to cross this landmark in the CWC, namely, Aussie Glenn McGrath (the leading wicket-taker in CWC with 71 wickets), Sri Lankans M Muralidharan and Lasith Malinga. McGrath and Malinga achieved their respective landmarks in just 30 games, during the 2007 edition of the CWC, the quickest by any bowler!
** Pakistan’s Shaheen Shah Afridi at 19 years, 90 days became the only teenage bowler to claim a five-wicket haul in the CWC, when he claimed 6/35 against Bangladesh at Lord’s on 5 Jul 2019.
** UAE’s Shaukat Dukanwala became the oldest to claim a five-wicket haul at 30 years, 40 days, when he took 5/29 against Netherlands at Lahore on 1 Mar 1996.
** Canada’s Nitesh R Kumar at 16 years, 283 days is the youngest to appear in the CWC match. He did so in the 2011 edition against Zimbabwe at Nagpur on 28 Feb 2011.
** Netherland’s Barbados born Nolan Clarke was 47 years, 240 days when he made his debut against New Zealand at Baroda on 17 Feb 1996. He thus became the oldest debutant to appear in the CWC match. A couple of weeks later, he appeared in his final CWC game against South Africa at Rawalpindi on 5 March 1996 at the age of 47 years, 257 days, thus making him the oldest to appear in a CWC match!
** Lasith Malinga is among the ten bowlers to claim a hat-trick. However, he is the only bowler in CWC history to do so on two separate occasions – once against South Africa in 2007 and against Kenya in 2011. Against South Africa, Malinga managed the claim four wickets in four balls at Providence in Guyana on 28 Mar 2007, thus making him the only bowler to achieve this rare feat in CWC.
** Sri Lankan Chaminda Vaas during the CWC match in 2003 against Bangladesh at Pietermaritzburg on 14 Feb 2003 achieved a unique feat, when claimed the first four wickets in the very first over of the match. He had three wickets off the first three balls and then off the fifth ball of the over after conceding a four and wide!
** Sri Lankan Nuwan Kulasekara has the unique distinction of delivering the final ball of 2011 CWC, in which MS Dhoni hit the tournament winning run – a huge six at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on 2 Apr 2011 and nearly four years later he had the honour to deliver the first ball of the 2015 tournament at Christchurch against New Zealand on 14 Feb 2015. But on this occasion, Kiwi opener Martin Guptill just left the ball alone outside off stump! However, Sri Lanka lost both these games!
** Only five players have the distinction of aggregating over 500 runs and claim 25 wickets in this CWC career – Pakistan’s Imran Khan (666 runs + 34 wickets), India’s Kapil Dev (669+28), Australian Steve Waugh (978+27), Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya (1165+27) and Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan (1146+34). The last name player is the only one in this elite list to aggregate 1000-plus runs and take 30-plus wickets!
** Only two players have the distinction of registering a century and take a four-wicket haul in a CWC match. The first, Feiko Kloppenburg for Netherlands against Namibia at Bloemfontein on 3 Mar 2003 opened the Dutch batting and made 121 and then went on to claim 4/42 in his ten overs of medium pace. The other, Sri Lankan Tillekeratne Dilshan against Zimbabwe at Pallekele on 10 Mar 2011 as an opener hit 144 and then claimed 4/4 in 3 overs with his off-breaks!
** Only two players have the distinction of registering a fifty and take a five-wicket haul in a CWC match. Yuvraj Singh was the first when he claimed 5/31 in his ten overs as a left arm spinner and hit an unbeaten 50 against Ireland at Bengaluru on 6 Mar 2011. The other was Bangladesh’s Shakib Al
Hasan against Afghanistan at Southampton on 24 June 2019 made 51 and then claimed 5/29 in 10 overs with his left-arm spin!
** Australians Ricky Ponting and Glenn McGrath are the only two players who have appeared in the four CWC finals – in 1996, 1999, 2003 and 2007. They along with Adam Gilchrist were a part of the successful CWC title winning playing XI on three occasions (in 1999, 2003, 2007).
