Cricket World Cup History: 5 players with most wickets in the tournament
The World Cup 2019 is heading to the business stages of the tournament and the tournament, barring a few of lop-sided encounters has produced a couple of equitable battles between bat and ball.
Such is the shift in the rules of the sport that cricket is often considered as a batsman's game but on quite a few occasions, teams have won matches based on top performances from the bowling unit.
There are several games in the World Cup where a bowler has sealed the game for his team. In the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, the bowlers are playing a crucial role in their team's campaign towards the knockout stages.
Just as important as it is for the batsmen to notch up a whole lot of runs, the key though, for teams lies with the bowling unit. A number of bowlers have enjoyed terrific outings in the history of the World Cup which have gone on to win matches for their team.
Here are the top five bowlers, who have the most wickets in the history of the World Cup.
#5 - Chaminda Vaas (Sri Lanka) - 49 wickets from 31 matches
Chaminda Vaas played cricket for 15 years for Sri Lanka and was always amongst the wickets. He played four World Cups for Sri Lanka in 1996, 1999, 2003 and 2007.
While Sri Lanka won the Cup in 1996, he did not make much of an impact and picked just six wickets from six matches. However, he was the leading wicket-taker of the tournament in 2003 where he took 23 wickets at a brilliant average of 14.39.
In the same tournament, Vaas took a hat-trick against Bangladesh and became the first player to take a hat-trick with the first three balls of a ODI match. In this match, he recorded best-ever figures by a Sri Lankan bowler in World Cup, with 6/25 from 9.1 overs.
His overall Cricket World Cup record stands at 49 wickets from 31 matches at an average of 21.22 runs and an economy of 3.97.
Overall Statistics in World Cups
Matches: 31
Wickets: 49
Best Bowling: 9.1-2-25-6 v Bangladesh (2003 World Cup)
Also read – World cup most wickets