Mohammad Rizwan has revealed the pep talk from Pakistan T20 captain Shaheen Afridi that helped Pakistan win the fifth and final Twenty20 International against New Zealand and avoid a clean sweep of the series.

Pakistan lost the five-match series 4–1, but it ended on a positive note as they bowled out the Black Caps for 92 in defense of 134–8.

“He [Shaheen Afridi] He is a very good captain and I have seen him in Lahore Qalandars and other teams where I was his teammate and he is the kind of player who neither loses heart nor loses courage till the end of the game,” Rizwan said. Told Cricbuzz.

He said, ‘Recently against New Zealand we scored 228, 220 runs and we lost the match. And in the last game we scored around 135 runs and it looked like they would get it in 12 overs. But when Shaheen got into the ruckus he said that we have to win this game and show it to the world. And this is a unique quality he has that he never loses courage at any stage of his game,” he said.

Shaheen had said that it was “very important” that his team avoided a whitewash series loss to New Zealand.

“Today’s game was very important for us. We needed this as a unit to move forward,” Shaheen said.

“In the first four matches, there were a lot of collapses, as a fielding unit, as a batting unit, but I think today we played as a team and we needed that win.

“It is not easy for any team to come here. And I think our minds are on the World Cup. We are checking every position for every player and giving opportunities to the youngsters.