Captain Sarfraz Ahmed praises Pakistan bowling despite series whitewash

Wellington, Jan 19 (CRICKETNMORE):  Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed on Friday heaped praise on his bowlers despite his team's 0-5 whitewash in the One-Day International (ODI) series against New Zealand.

New Zealand completed the series sweep with a 15-run victory in the fifth and final match at the Basin Reserve here on Friday.

"We back our team. And there are some positive things. The lower order played very well today, Fahim, Aamer Yamin, Nawaz," Ahmed was quoted as saying by the International Cricket Council's (ICC) official website after the match.

"The bowling unit were very good. Sometimes we had opportunities but we didn't grab them," he added.

Ahmed also praised the lower-order batsmen for their spirited performance in the fifth match. 

Shadab Khan came in number seven to score 54 runs off 77 deliveries and put on a 105-run stand along with Haris Sohail who top scored with 63.

Other lower order batsmen Aamer Yamin (32 not out) Fahim Ashraf (23) and Mohammad Nawaz (23) also batted well.

Ahmed, however, felt that the top order batsmen did not perform according to their potential which proved to be the biggest stumbling block for Pakistan during the series.

"New Zealand are a very good team, they played well throughout the series. The main thing was batting, that's why we lost the series," he said.