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Many outstanding batsmen have stamped their class on World Cups by scoring runs by the bulk. The highest scores in Cricket World Cup have almost reached the 200-run mark.
As far as individual innings are concerned, the list of highest scores is headed by South Africa’s Gary Kirsten – he scored 188 not out in a match against the United Arab Emirates at Rawalpindi during the 1996 Cricket World Cup. This knock of his will be remembered in cricketing folklore for a long time to come.
Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly, with his 183 against Sri Lanka in the 1999 Cricket World Cup, is a close second in this table. His inning was laden with the most spell-binding shots to the boundary. It is courtesy this inning that he holds the record for most sixes (23) in all World Cups till date.
Sachin Tendulkar (152), Rahul Dravid (145), Andrew Symonds (143*), Herschelle Gibbs (143) and Ricky Ponting (140*) are some of the players featured in the list of highest scores in Cricket World Cups.
In the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, highest score came from the bats of Imran Nazir of Pakistan against Zimbabwe. He scored 160 runs in 121 balls with the help of eight sixes and 14 fours. Next are from Australia – Mathew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist. Hayden scored 158 runs in 143 balls against West Indies. He hit 14 fours and four sixes to reach the score. Gilchrist got 149 runs 104 balls. He hit 13 fours and eight sixes against Sri Lanka to reach his individual score of 149.
India’s Tendulkar is the top World Cup scorer with 1796 runs in his kitty. He was adjudged the ‘Player of the Tournament’ in 2003 World Cup.
In 2007 World Cup, Australia’s Mathew Hayden was on top of the run-getter list with 659 runs, including three centuries. He was followed by Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene (548 runs), Rick Ponting (Australia, 539 runs), Scott Styris (New Zealand, 499 runs), Jacque Kallis (South Africa, 485 runs), Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka, 467 runs), Adam Gilchrist (Australia, 453 runs) Kevin Pietersen (England, 444 runs) Graeme Smith (South Africa, 443 runs) and Michael Clarke (Australia, 436 runs).
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