On July 6 last year, Indian opening batsman Rohit Sharma scripted history by becoming the first player ever to notch up five centuries in the single edition of the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup.

The 33-year-old achieved the feat during India’s seven-wicket win against Sri Lanka at Leeds in a group stage clash of the 2019 edition of the showpiece event.

Chasing a target of 265 runs to win, Rohit notched up a blistering knock of 103 runs off just 94 deliveries to help the Men in Blue chase down the target inside 43.3 overs.

Rohit’s knock was decorated with 14 boundaries and two sixes while he also shared a huge 189-run partnership with KL Rahul for the opening wicket.

The Indian opener was also declared ‘ Man of the Match’ for his good show with the bat during the clash.

It was Rohit’s third successive century in the 2019 World Cup and fifth of the edition, thus becoming the first batsman to achieve the feat.

With the achievement, Rohit, who is popularly also known as ‘Hit-man’ and ‘run machine’, had surpassed Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara’s record for the most number of centuries in one edition of the mega event. The Sri Lankan great had scored four consecutive centuries in the 2015 World Cup. 

Overall, it was Rohit’s sixth hundred in World Cup career, thus drawing level with legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar for most hundreds in the history of the cricket’s showpiece event. 

Rohit’s first century of the 2019 World Cup came when he scored an unbeaten knock of 122 runs off 144 balls against South Africa to guide India to six-wicket win.

He then became only the second Indian batsman after skipper Virat Kohli to score a century against arch-rivals Pakistan when he smashed 140 runs off 113 balls to guide the Men in Blue to an 89-run win.

The Indian opener’s third knock of the last year’s showpiece event came in a losing cause. He scored 102 runs during a clash against England, but India went on to suffer 31-run defeat during the match.

Rohit then notched up his fourth century of the tournament by scoring a 92-ball 104 runs to help India post 314 for nine after opting to bat against Bangladesh. Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya then took four and three wickets,respectively to help India bundle out Bangladesh for 286 runs and seal 28-run win.