Sydney: Spin great Muttiah Muralitharan told Sri Lanka to bat first against South Africa and not obsess over the destructive batting power of AB de Villiers in Wednesday's World Cup quarter-final.


AB de Villiers. Pic/AFP 

Muralitharan, a veteran of Sri Lanka's defeated sides in the 2007 and 2011 finals, believes all the pressure will be on the team batting second at the Sydney Cricket Ground and that Angelo Mathews's men can capitalise on South Africa's poor record when chasing. "I have two messages -- win the toss and do not get too hung up thinking about AB de Villiers," the off-spin great wrote in latest ICC column.