LEEDS: Opening batsman Rohit Sharma became the first player to hit five centuries in a single World Cup as he put India on course for a comfortable win against Sri Lanka at Headingley on Saturday.
Sharma reached the milestone with a boundary off Kasun Rajitha to pass the mark set by Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara, who scored four hundreds at the 2015 tournament.
"He (Rohit) has done something for others to follow. He is still hungry for runs," Sangakkara said while commentating for the match.
He reached his century off 92 balls with 14 fours and two sixes but was dismissed shortly afterwards, caught by Angelo Mathews off the bowling of Ragitha for 103.
Sharma, known as the "hitman", now leads the tournament's run-scoring charts with 647 runs in eight matches after hitting his third successive century.
He is only the fourth batsman after Sachin Tendulkar, Matthew Hayden and Shakib Al Hasan to score more than 600 runs at a single World Cup.
The attacking batsman put on 189 runs for the opening wicket with KL Rahul to put India well on course to reach their target of 265.
The 32-year-old Rohit is likely to go past Tendulkar in the highest number of runs in a single World as he has already scored 647 runs from nine matches, just 26 short of the record 673 in the name of Sachin Tendulkar during the 2003 World Cup.
India has already qualified for the semifinals of the ongoing World Cup and Rohit has the chance to go past this record of Tendular also.