We have the best bowling in the world: Sarfraz

At the end of the five-match One-Day International series, the verdict was out: It was Pakistan's outstanding bowling that made the difference as the home side beat Sri Lanka 5-0 after winning the final game in Sharjah on Monday (October 23) by nine wickets.

Pakistan found another wicket-taking left-arm pacer in Usman Shinwari, who rocked the Sri Lankans with figures of 5 for 34 in seven overs. At one stage, Shinwari had 5 for 12 from 21 balls. Sri Lanka never recovered and finished on 103. Pakistan knocked off the runs in 20.2 overs.

The win gave Pakistan its sixth 5-0 series whitewash and ninth consecutive ODI win, a run that had started during the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 in June this year.

“I have been saying this, that we have the best bowling in the world and the fact that when you give an opportunity to someone and he performs, it’s great,” said Sarfraz Ahmed, the Pakistan captain, of the 23-year-old Shinwari.

“I threw the ball to him and he attacked from the word go. Usman finished the match in the first five overs. We're going from strength to strength, we have lots of options. I want our batting to perform more; if we score 270-280, our bowling is strong enough to defend that.”

Sarfraz lauded his bowlers for not letting the absence of Mohammad Amir hurt the team. “We did not have Amir due to injury but Shinwari filled that gap and throughout this series we did well with the ball and this is a great sign for us,” he said.

Pakistan has not allowed any of its opponents to cross 250 in the nine-match winning streak. The last time it had conceded more runs was in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 opener, when India beat it after scoring 319 for 3. The pick of the bowlers has been Hasan Ali, who has been in great form, taking 14 wickets in this five-match series to go to the top of the International Cricket Council rankings for ODI bowlers. Shadab Khan, the young leg-spinner, has also been outstanding with 10 wickets.

Upul Tharanga, the Sri Lanka captain, blamed his batsmen for the capitulations, saying they had no idea how to counter the aggression of the Pakistani bowlers.

“Throughout the series we did not have answer to Pakistan's bowling as they were outstanding,” said Tharanga, whose team was restricted to totals of 209 for 8, 187, 208, 173 and 103.

“We're not playing to our strengths, to our capability. We didn't score 200 three times. We couldn't handle the pressure. We had no answers to Usman's first spell. They were straight, always trying to get wickets.”

Azhar Mahmood, the Pakistan bowling coach, was thrilled at his work with the boys paying off. “I was saying that a year ago when we were not doing well – we have the best attack in the world and the way the captain is giving confidence, the team management is giving confidence, that is good,” he said.

“The back-up is good when Amir is not there. Rumman (Raees) came and performed in the Champions Trophy and now Amir again is missing and Shinwari performed, so it’s a healthy competition and making our bench strong.”

The two teams now play a three-match Twenty20 International series, the first two in Abu Dhabi on October 26 and 27 while the last in Lahore on October 29.