Cricket World Cup History: 5 players with most wickets in the tournament 

#2 Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka) - 68 wickets from 40 matches

Muttiah Muralitharan was one of Sri Lanka's best spinners

Muttiah Muralitharan is considered as one of the greatest ever spin bowlers and it comes as no surprise that he is the second-highest wicket-taker in the World Cup. He has played five World Cups for Sri Lanka in 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011. He also has the best economy rate (3.88) in this list.

In his debut World Cup, he took 7 wickets and was quite economical. In 1999 he was able to pick only 6 wickets, but in the 2003 he was the second highest wicket-taker for Sri Lanka and took 17 wickets. In the 2007 World Cup he was the second-highest wicket-taker of the tournament and took 23 wickets. In his farewell World Cup 2011, he took 15 wickets in total and was leading wicket-taker for Sri Lanka.

Overall Statistics in World Cups

Matches: 40

Wickets: 68

Best Bowling: 5-0-19-4 v Ireland (2007 World Cup)