De Villiers surprised by pacers' dominance at WC

Updated on: 06 March,2011 08:42 AM IST |
Vimal Kumar |

Former South African speedster Fanie de Villiers is pleasantly surprised that seamers and not spinners have been the best bowlers in this World Cup

Former South African speedster Fanie de Villiers is pleasantly surprised that seamers and not spinners have been the best bowlers in this World Cup.

"It's quite interesting to see that the fast bowlers are more successful in this World Cup," De Villiers said from South Africa.

Apart from Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi, who leads the chart with 14 scalps, and Imran Tahir, who has seven wickets for his fifth place, the rest of the Top 10 are fast bowlers.

No Indian in Top 10
And there are only two more slow bowlers, England's Graeme Swann and Canada's India-born Balaji Rao, among the top 20. But the Indians do not dominate the bowling charts, with Munaf Patel 12th (six wickets) and Zaheer Khan (5) 19th.

De Villiers suggested India's bowlers should take the flak for the tie against England. "I saw Sreesanth carrying drinks and it's not a big compliment. But for me, if a team can't defend 338, then it's either bad captaincy or bad bowling. It will be tough for India to stop this trend," said the South African great.

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