Sri Lankan wicketkeeper-batsman Kumar Sangakkara has re-written his name in the history books by becoming the first batsman to hit four consecutive tons in a World Cup.
Sangakkara knocked a brilliant 124 runs off just 95 deliveries to take his side to a daunting 363-9 against Scotland in their World Cup Pool A match at Bellerive Oval on Wednesday.
Sri Lanka have already booked a place in the quarterfinals but Sangakkara's insatiable appetite for runs continued unabated as he added 195 runs with Tillakaratne Dilshan (104) against Scotland's limited bowling resources on a perfect batting track, Stuff.co.nz reported.
Sangakkara (124), who went into the match as the highest run-getter at this year's tournament, reached the 100-mark in 86 balls and went on to consolidate his position at the top of the batting table with another scintillating knock.
Sangakkara overtook New Zealand's Ross Taylor, South Africa's Quinton de Kock, AB de Villiers and Herschelle Gibbs, Pakistan's Zaheer Abbas and Saeed Anwar, who have all hit three consecutive tons in a World Cup, with his fourth straight ton in the 2015 edition of the tournament.
Sangakkara has also become the first batsman to hit four centuries in a single World Cup and now has overall five tons in World Cups, joint second with former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting. Only, Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar has most World Cup centuries with six to his name, the report added.