The cricket extravaganza begins on 30th May with teams from the world over fighting for the coveted Cricket World Cup trophy. As the tournament enters its 12th edition, England & Wales will host the event where the 'Grand Finale' will happen on 14th of July. 10 teams will play the gentleman's game at 11 venues during the event.

India has always been a worthy contender to the title. While the Men in Blue have only got the hands at the cup twice, they have always impressed with their work. 1983 & 2011 were the years when the Indian squad won the cup, and while the former happened in the same country as this year's host, the latter was won in front of the home crowd. The squad did impress during 2003 when they put on a great match, but Sourav and team fell short by 125 runs to Australia and their chance to be called World Champions.

The squad did impress during 1987, 1996 and 2015 world cups as well when they made it to the semi-finals. Along with as a unit, individual performances have also been phenomenal by the Indian Men, with Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh winning the Man of the Tournament awards in their blue jersey.

In this article, we take a look at 5 top run scorers from India in the World Cup:

#5 Mohammad Azharuddin

Mohammad Azharuddin is considered to have the best wrists in the sport as this middle-order batsman could send the ball to the boundary with his skills. He was a part of four world cups during his career from 1987 to 1999 and scored 826 runs at an average of 39. As a captain, he led the team from the front from 1992 to 1999, and also took the team to the semi-finals during 1996.

In his illustrious career since 1985, until his retirement, he scored 9378 runs in 334 ODI games.

#4 Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag scored an impressive 843 runs for India from 22 WC matches between 2003 and 2011. He scored 299 runs during 2003 in 11 matches, 164 runs in 2007 and 380 runs in 8 matches during 2011. He scored 8273 runs at a strike rate of 104 in 251 ODIs during his cricketing career.

#3 Rahul Dravid

Considered as India's 'Wall' in cricket, Rahul played 22 WC matches and scored 860 runs at an average of 61 between 1999-2007.

His debut saw him score 461 runs in 8 matches making him the leading scorer during WC 1999. In the next tournament, he scored 318 runs in 11 matches while his final term wasn't good as the team was knocked out in group stages. In his illustrious career, he played 344 ODI matches scoring 10,889 runs with 12 tons.

#2 Sourav Ganguly

21 World Cup matches and 1006 runs with 3 centuries is a testament to his cricketing skills. During his term from 1999-2007, he scored 379 runs from 8 matches in 1999, 465 runs from 11 games in 2003, and 162 runs from the 3 matches in 2007. His career performance stands at 311 ODI matches scoring 11,363 runs, with 22 centuries. He took the team to the finals in 2003 but missed the opportunity.

#1 Sachin Tendulkar

There is a reason The Little Master is considered the God of the game. He scored 2278 runs from 45 matches in the World Cup, of which, 283 runs from 8 matches including 3 half-centuries came in 1992.

In 1996, he scored 523 runs from 7 matches, 253 runs in 1999 and 673 runs (top-scorer) in 2003. His lowest scores came during 2007 World Cup, and the record stated 64 runs in 3 matches.

2011, the year when India won the world cup the second time saw him score 482 runs. In a career spanning many years, the Master Blaster has played in 463 ODI matches, with 18,426 runs to his credit. While it's been 7 years since he left the field, he and his shots are still missed by the fans.

क्रिकेट वर्ल्ड कप 2019 अंक तालिका (Ank Talika), न्यूज़, टाइम टेबल, लाइव स्कोर स्पोर्ट्सकीड़ा हिंदी पर पाएं