Pakistan captain Afridi hopes to carry winning momentum in ODI series against Sri Lanka

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan will be hoping to carry its winning momentum in ODIs when it takes on Sri Lanka in a three-match series starting Tuesday at Rawalpindi.

Shaheen Shah Afridi, in his first series as ODI captain, led Pakistan to 2-1 home win over a depleted South Africa last week in Faisalabad.

“Going into the Sri Lanka series, our focus is to carry that winning momentum forward,” Afridi said at Pindi Cricket Stadium, which hosts all three ODIs this week. “We want to build consistency in our performances and make sure that we keep improving as a team in every department.”

Pakistan’s below-par performances in ODIs this year saw Afridi replace Mohammad Rizwan as captain before the series against the Proteas. In 2025, Pakistan lost bilateral ODI series against New Zealand and the West Indies and were beaten by New Zealand in the tri-nation series final before failing to qualify for the semifinals of the Champions Trophy it hosted earlier this year.

But Afridi wanted the whole team to take responsibility in order to compete against tougher opponents in 50-over format of the game after Pakistan lost 10 of its 14 ODIs in 2025.

“All the players should take responsibility,” he said. “It’s not Shaheen, Fakhar (Zaman), Babar (Azam), or Saim’s (Ayub) job, we all should do our best. We should even back those players who are not performing and always believe that we can perform as a team.”

Left-handed batter Ayub scored two half-centuries against South Africa. That included a top-score of 77 in the series-deciding third ODI as Pakistan chased down the target of 144 for the loss of three wickets.

Babar could score only 45 runs in three innings while Zaman followed his 45 in the first match with two successive ducks. However, in the long Pakistan batting lineup Salman Ali Agha notched two half-centuries and Rizwan scored 55 to edge out South Africa.

“I was really proud of the way the players responded to different situations and played as a unit (against South Africa),” Afridi said. “The energy, intent and teamwork were outstanding.”

Sri Lanka is ranked at No. 4 in the ODI rankings – one place ahead of Pakistan — and won bilateral series at home against Australia and Bangladesh before beating Zimbabwe in its last away ODI series.

Unlike South Africa, which visited Pakistan without seven of its front-line white-ball players, Sri Lanka has named a full strength ODI squad, led by Charith Asalanka.

Only fast bowler Dilshan Madushanka missed out because of knee injury and was replaced by Eshan Malinga, who is likely to make his ODI debut during the series.

Asalanka believed Pakistan will be tough to beat in its own home conditions.

“That’s always a tough series when it comes to Pakistan, their home, their conditions,” Asalanka said. “Pakistan played good cricket in their last series and we too. We played 30-45 days ago in Zimbabwe and done really well, especially our ODI side has been doing really well.”

Pakistan is likely to prepare more batting friendly wickets to negate the spin threat of Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana, with Jeffrey Vandersay another spin option for Sri Lanka.

The ODI series will be followed by a T20 tri-series in Rawalpindi and Lahore, starting from Nov. 17 with Zimbabwe the other team.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket