Rizwan reveals Shaheen’s pep talk that sparked Pakistan's T20I win over NZ

Mohammad Rizwan revealed Pakistan T20I skipper Shaheen Afridi’s pep talk which helped Pakistan win the fifth and final Twenty20 international against New Zealand and avoid a series clean sweep.

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

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

“In the recent past against New Zealand, we scored 228, 220 and we lost the match. And in the last game we made about 135 runs and it looked like they will chase it down in 12 overs. But when Shaheen came down to the huddle he said that we have to win this game and show this world. And this is a unique quality that he possess that he does not lose his courage at any stage of his game,” he added.

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

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

“In the first four games, 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’s not easy for any team to come here. And I think our mind is on the World Cup. We’re just checking out every spot for every player and giving chances to youngsters.”