Year Ender 2023: Top five hundreds across formats ft. Rohit Sharma and Mohammad Rizwan

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Year Ender 2023: The year 2023 saw players rising up to the occasion to hit splendid hundreds for their country. A few hundreds like those from Steve Smith and Travis Head in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against India, took the game completely away from the opposition.

A few hundreds like that of Zimbabwe Sean Williams' 174 off 101 balls against the USA, and UAE's Asif Khan's 151 not out against the same opposition in July, went unnoticed and did make any major buzz.

A total of 203 hundreds were hit in 2022. But as on December 20, 2023 - 227 hundreds were hit across the three formats in cricket. However, we have shortlisted the top five hundreds which left the fans and the entire cricket fraternity in awe. Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Travis Head, Mohammad Rizwan and Rohit Sharma feature in the list.

Virat Kohli's 50th ODI Hundred: The big hundred in a big tournament, and on the biggest occasion by one of the biggest players to play the game, made headlines across the globe.

In the India vs New Zealand semi-final of the World Cup 2023 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Virat Kohli hit 50th ODI hundred to break Sachin Tendulkar's record for most centuries in the format.

As soon as he reached to the milestone, Kohli took off his helmet and bowed in the direction of Sachin Tendulkar and blew a flying kiss to his wife Anushka Sharma who was also in the stands. The 117-run knock off 113 balls helped India post 397/4 and win the match by 70 runs.

Glenn Maxwell's one-legged double hundred vs Afghanistan: Wankhede Stadium witnessed arguably the greatest knock played in the history of ODI cricket.

Australia were seven down for 91 while chasing 292 when Glenn Maxwell took things under his control and blasted unbeaten 201 runs off just 128. The innings which Maxwell played under immense pain due to cramps and back spasms saw Maxwell hit 21 fours and 10 sixes.

Towards the end, Maxwell could barely move his feet but kept on miraculously hitting fours and sixes without even moving an inch while inside the crease.

Travis Head's hundred in World Cup 2023 final: Travis Head's hundred in the World Cup 2023 final would go down as the most iconic hundred in the year. On a surface where India could score on 240 in the first innings, and Australia second-highest run-scorer Marnus Labuschange could score unbeaten 58 off 110 balls, the right-hand opener ended up smashing 137 off 120 balls.

The innings consisted of 15 fours and four sixes. The target was chased down by Australia in just 43 overs.

Mohammad Rizwan's 131* vs Sri Lanka: The Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter put on a show for his team to score 131 not out runs off just 121 balls. His innings consisted of eight fours and three sixes.

Pakistan were two down for 37 after Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam were dismissed inside the first eight overs while chasing 345. Rizwan was down on the ground, quivered in pain due to cramps, but kept on hammering the Sri Lanka bowlers to help Pakistan chase down the target with 10 balls to spare.

"Sometimes cramps, sometimes acting," Rizwan famously said after getting the Man of the Match award for his blistering hundred.

Rohit Sharma shows class in Nagpur Test: India captain Rohit Sharma was nothing but exceptional in the World Cup 2023. At one stage in the tournament, he hit the fastest (63) World Cup hundred by an India batter, before the record was broken by KL Rahul (62 balls).

However, his best hundred came in the Nagpur Test against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023. Australia were bowled out for 177 and 91 on the spin-friendly track.

The likes of Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and KL Rahul were also dismissed for 12, 7 and 20 respectively, but Rohit showed supreme class to score 120 off 212 balls.

The opener spent a total of 344 minutes under extremely difficult batting conditions to hit 15 fours and two sixes. India won the match by an innings and 132 runs.