With limited time and overs in your hand, it is not easy for you to score as freely like you can in Test Cricket. You always have a lot of things going on in your head and at times in order for your team to thrive, you have to even give away your wicket in cursory.
Yet there are greats of the game who have effortlessly mastered the art of scoring runs in whatsoever calamity they are in. It feels as if their rich vein of form never comes to an end and they score for fun in the most dire moments. We will sneak a peek at five superstars of the game who went on to score consecutive centuries in the limited overs format.
1. Kumara Sangakkara
One of the best wicket keeper batsman of all time, Kumara Sangakkara was always a menace to his opponents. With a batting style that constructed the innings in the beginning and then imposed an onslaught beyond measure, Sangakkara tops the list with 4 consecutive centuries in 2015.
He chose the monumental 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup to fare this herculean feat.
The first of this four centuries came against Bangladesh where he smashed 105. He followed this up with an even better performance against a formidable England, plundering an unbeaten 117 that guided Sri Lanka to chase a mammoth total of 310.
Sri Lanka, however, fell to the mighty Australians in the following bout but Sangakkara was on song as he stitched a valuable 104 in that defeat too.
The last of those tons came in the following match against Scotland in Hobart where he racked up 124, crafting an emphatic victory by 148 runs.
2. Zaheer Abbas
Pakistan has always been a phenomenal side in cricket due to significant contribution from their bowlers. Sultans of swing as Eric Clapton would have called it, Pakistan has played the breeding ground for legends in bowling. However, in the 80’s the squad also produced some fine batsmen whose dominance guided Pakistan to an even better state of affairs.
One of the leading batsmen of that era was Zaheer Abbas. In 1982, he became the first batsman to score three consecutive centuries in One Day Cricket.
This famous feat came against Pakistan’s arch-rivals, India. The first of the three centuries arrived in Multan where he scored a stunning 118 that saw Pakistan emerge victorious by 37 runs.
In the next ODI at Lahore, he went to chronicle his second century but it was for a lost cause as India thumped Pakistan. Zaheed scored 105 in that game.
However, Pakistan shortly avenged their defeat as they crushed India in the final ODI at Karachi where his scintillating 113 helped Pakistan in notching up a convincing eight-wicket victory against India.
3. Abraham Benjamin De Villiers
De Villiers was probably one of the finest stroke players, the game has ever seen and with every passing day, he turned into an even better version of himself.
In 2010, he scored a hattrick of centuries which however, came in totally different situations. The first two of them came against India in Gwalior and Ahmedabad as he went on to score an unbeaten 114 and another unbeaten 102 respectively. He completed his hattrick of centuries against West Indies at North Sound.
A lethal batsman in whatever limited cricket he has been playing off late, specially in the franchise, he still continues to be a dominant force of the game. However, he has withdrawn himself from international cricket in 2018.
4. Virat Kohli
The Indian skipper has been a dominant force in all forms of the game. He continues to proliferate at an unparalleled rate and is touted to be the most potential contenders to rattle all the records of Sachin Tendulkar.
He stitched this incredible feat in 2018 when he went on to blast three back-to-back tons against West Indies. The first one arrived at Guwahati as he managed to score 140 to secure a comfortable victory for India. The second century arrived at Vishakapatnam where he smashed a blistering 157 and went on stay unbeaten in a thrilling tie.
The third in the list came in a losing cause as despite the run-machine scoring 107 in Pune, he failed to help India win as they fell short by 43 runs, chasing 284.
5. Rohit Sharma
The Indian opener is the latest batsman to achieve this wondrous benchmark as he scored five centuries in 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup to overhaul Sangakkara’s record of 2015.
In the grandest stage of all, Rohit Sharma started with his carnage with a fabulous 102 against a resolute England in Birmingham but India failed to cross the line as England secured a 31-run victory.
The second ton came against Bangladesh in the very next game where he hammered his continental neighbours to every nook and cranny of the park, plundering 104 runs that helped India secure a 24 runs victory.
The third ton in the list came against Sri Lanka where his 103 guided India to a comfortable victory by 7 wickets.
