Cricket World Cup Records: Titles, Runs, Wickets and Greatest Finals (Updated 2026)
Australia's six titles, Kohli's 765-run tournament, Rohit's five hundreds, McGrath's 71 wickets, Markram's 49-ball final blitz — every ODI and T20 World Cup record that matters.
· CricLiveOnline staff
World Cups are where records acquire weight — numbers made under the heaviest pressure the sport can apply. Here is the complete record book across the ODI and T20 World Cups, current through the 2026 tournaments.
Titles
| Team | ODI World Cups | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | 6 | 1987, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2015, 2023 |
| India / West Indies | 2 each | 1983 & 2011 / 1975 & 1979 |
| Pakistan, Sri Lanka, England | 1 each | 1992, 1996, 2019 |
Australia’s six ODI titles — including three in a row from 1999–2007, the last two under an unbeaten Ricky Ponting — make them the most successful team in the tournament’s history by double. In the women’s game their dominance is even more extreme, extended again with the 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup title at Lord’s.
MS Dhoni remains the only captain to win all three ICC white-ball trophies: the 2007 T20 World Cup, the 2011 ODI World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy.
Batting records
- Most World Cup runs (career): Sachin Tendulkar — 2,278 across six tournaments (1992–2011)
- Most runs in one edition: Virat Kohli — 765 in 2023, including his record-breaking 50th ODI century in the semi-final
- Most centuries in one edition: Rohit Sharma — 5 in 2019
- Fastest World Cup century: Aiden Markram — 49 balls vs Sri Lanka, 2023 (breaking Kevin O’Brien’s famous 50-ball record from 2011)
- Highest World Cup score: Martin Guptill — 237 not out vs West Indies, 2015 quarter-final
- Greatest final innings: take your pick — Ponting’s 140* (2003), Gilchrist’s 149 (2007), or Travis Head’s 137 to silence 130,000 in Ahmedabad (2023)
Bowling records
- Most World Cup wickets (career): Glenn McGrath — 71
- Most in one edition: Mitchell Starc — 27 (2019)
- Four in four balls: Lasith Malinga vs South Africa, 2007 — still the only instance in ODI World Cup history
T20 World Cup landmarks
- Most titles: West Indies, England and India have each won twice, with India’s 2024 triumph in Barbados the tournament’s most recent before 2026
- 2026 highlights: Finn Allen’s 33-ball century in the semi-final — the fastest in T20 World Cup history — and the first-ever century by an Associate nation player at the tournament, scored by a Canadian batter
- Associate breakthrough: Nepal’s group-stage win over Scotland in 2026 — part of a tournament where Nepal, UAE and Oman all qualified from Asia’s pathway, covered in depth in our analysis of Associate cricket’s breakthrough year
The great upsets
World Cups are the only stage where cricket’s hierarchy regularly gets mugged:
- India def. West Indies, 1983 final — the upset that changed cricket’s economy forever
- Ireland def. England, 2011 — Kevin O’Brien’s then-fastest WC century from 113 runs behind
- Kenya reach the semi-finals, 2003 — still the deepest Associate run ever
- Bangladesh def. Australia, 2005 era & Pakistan, 1999 — the arrival announcements
- Nepal def. Scotland, 2026 — the newest member of the club
Why World Cup records hit harder
A bilateral hundred is forgotten in a fortnight; Klusener’s 1999, Dhoni’s six, Stokes’ 2019 Super Over and Head’s 137 are permanent. Every number above was made with a billion people watching and no tomorrow available — which is exactly why they’re the records young players memorize.
More: the 25 greatest world records in cricket · most wickets in history · fastest centuries
World CupRecordsAustraliaKohliT20 World Cup