SHARJAH: Skipper Sarfraz Ahmed on Friday said Pakistan had one of the best bowling attacks in the world and that had played a key role in his side surging to a 4-0 lead in the ODI series against Sri Lanka with just one match remaining.

Pakistan’s seven-wicket win in Sharjah on Friday continued their run of success in ODIs that had begun with the ICC Champions Trophy which they had won handsomely.

In their last 11 matches, only India has managed to score more than 250 against Pakistan — in the opening encounter of the Champions Trophy when they piled up 319. After that, however, Pakistan have gone on to dominate every team with their formidable bowling attack, dismissing South Africa for 219, Sri Lanka for 237, England for 211 in the semi-final, India for 158 in the final while in the current series Sri Lanka have been dismissed for 209, 187, 208 and 173.

“Yes, you can say that we have one of the best bowling attacks in the world,” said Sarfraz. “The way our bowling is performing, since the Champions Trophy, we have bowled teams out for less than 240 and have then chased it down well.”

Sarfraz singled out Hasan Ali, who became the joint third fastest bowler to reach 50 ODI wickets.

“We should praise the bowlers, especially Hasan, the way he is bowling and improving day by day. He is now world number one, so I wish he maintains that and do well to win us more matches,” said Sarfraz.

Looking ahead, Sarfraz said the eventual goal in mind for the team is the 2019 World Cup and hoped the team would grow even stronger by then.

“I am excited,” he said. “I think the World Cup is still far away, one and a half years away. But still, we are looking to build towards that event and if we play like this, it will be a strong combination by then.”—wisden.pk

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2017