DELHI: Right-handed middle-order batter Aiden Markram and South Africa smashed several records as they wreaked havoc with the bat against Sri Lanka in their ICC World Cup 2023 campaign opener on Saturday.

Aiden Markram scored the fastest World Cup century in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 fixture against Sri Lanka at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, India on Saturday.

The right-handed batter put on a blistering display and smashed the record in 49 balls.

He finished at a 54-ball 106 which featured 14 boundaries and three sixes.

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The previous record was held by former Ireland cricketer Kevin O’Brien. He scored his century in 50 balls against Ireland in the group stage fixture in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

South Africa went on to score the highest team total in a World Cup game as they scored 428/5 in their 50 overs as Aiden Markram, Quinton de Kock, and Rassie van der Dussen baton-charged Sri Lankan bowlers.

The trio scored sublime centuries, the first such instance in a World Cup game that three batters from a team got to the triple-figures.

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Notably in ODIs, South Africa had imitated the feat twice – against West Indies in Johannesburg and India in Mumbai while England had three centurions when they scored a record 498 against the Netherlands in June 2022.

For the unversed, South Africa’s 428/5 against Sri Lanka was their eighth 400-plus total in ODIs — the most by any team — three of which came at the World Cup while the rest of the teams have two 400-plus scores in total.

Moreover, South Africa’s 428/5 was also the highest total scored against Sri Lanka, surpassing India’s 414 for 7 in 2009 in Rajkot.

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