Usman Khan finished with career-best figures of 5-34 off seven overs

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Playing in just his second ODI, Pakistan pace bowler Usman Khan carved through Sri Lanka’s top order with a five-wicket haul to set up a nine-wicket win for his side in Sharjah.

Usman needed just 21 balls to take his five wickets, which is the third-quickest five-for in ODI history. The two bowlers that accomplished the feat faster than him are Sri Lanka’s Chaminda Vaas and the Netherlands’ Timm van der Gugten.

To make matters worse for Sri Lanka, they suffered their 12th straight defeat in ODIs and were whitewashed 5-0 for the third time this year. This set a new record as no team had been whitewashed more than twice in a bilateral series consisting of five games or more in a year.

Opting to bat first, Sri Lanka were dealt two huge blows in the first over of the match as Usman clean bowled Sadeera Samarawickrama for a duck before Dinesh Chandimal was caught behind the very next ball.

In his next over, Usman cleaned up captain Upul Tharanga for eight runs before trapping Niroshan Dickwella lbw just two balls later.

Milinda Siriwardana was Usman’s fifth victim, which led to Sri Lanka being reduced to 20/5 in the seventh over.

Lahiru Thirimanne and Seekkuge Prasanna temporarily stemmed the flow of wickets with a 29-run partnership before Thirimanne was caught behind off the bowling of Hasan Ali for 19.

Prasanna went on to make 16 runs before he was run out by Shadab Khan, while Thisara Perera managed to score 25 runs before falling to Shadab.

Shadab took out Jeffrey Vandersay three balls later before Sri Lanka were bowled out for 103 when Hasan clean bowled Dushmantha Chameera for 11.

Usman was easily the pick of the bowlers with five wickets, while Hasan and Shadab snapped up two wickets apiece.

Chasing 104 to win, Pakistan got off to a magnificent start as Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq amassed an 84-run partnership before Fakhar was caught behind off the bowling of Vandersay for a 47-ball 48.

That was to be Sri Lanka’s last taste of success as Imam and Faheem Ashraf mopped up the remaining runs to lead Pakistan to victory with 178 balls to spare.

Imam finished on 45 off 64 balls, which included four boundaries and a six, while Ashraf remained undefeated on five.

Vandersay was the only bowler to take a wicket.

Tharanga was shocked by his side’s performance, and said: “We’re not playing to our strengths, to our capability. We didn’t mass 200 four times. Couldn’t handle the pressure, had no answers to Usman’s first spell. They were straight, always trying to get wickets.”

Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed was thrilled to have won the series 5-0, and said: “Lots of happiness when you give an opportunity to someone and they perform. 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.”

Usman was named Man of the Match, and said: “Wasn’t easy, but the team atmosphere is confident. Learning a lot from our bowling coach. Was focusing on what was working for me.”