Top 5 wicket takers in World Cup history

It has often been seen that the batsmen dominate World Cups and steal the limelight but it is the side having the best and most settled and varied bowling unit wins the world cup. Be it the West Indies in the 1975 and 1979 World Cups, or India in 1983 and 2011, or Australia in 1999, 2003 and 2007, almost every time the champion side had their bowling unit in top form.

So bowlers have played an enormous part in making their teams lift the trophy and here we look at 5 such legends who have been the top wicket-takers in the Cup's history:

#5 Zaheer Khan and Javagal Srinath

Both Indian legends had 44 wickets in their kitty from 23 and 34 World Cup matches respectively. Zaheer was the spearhead of the Indian attack in the victorious campaign of 2011, ending as the joint highest wicket-taker. and played under the able guidance of Javagal Srinath, where India ended up being the runners-up.

Srinath picked the wickets at an average of 27.82 and had four-fers while Zaheer had an average of 20.23 and had 1 four-wicket haul.

#4 Chaminda Vaas

Probably the best ever seamer to wear the Sri Lankan jersey, Vaas was a destructor, who was at his best in the 2003 world cup. Vaas ended up with 49 wickets from 31 World Cup games and was a part of the winning team in 1996.

The left arm pacer had an envious average of 21.22 in the world cups, the third-best among all Sri Lankan bowlers. Vaas had best figures of 6/25 and 2 four-wicket hauls.