Pakistan's newcomer Haris Sohail displayed maturity as he knocked his maiden ODI half-century to steer his side to a three-wicket win over New Zealand in the first day-night international in Dubai on Monday.
The left-hander hit 85 off 109 balls and added 110 for the seventh wicket with veteran Shahid Afridi, who scored his individual 51 from 61 deliveries, to rescue Pakistan from a precarious 124-6 and into a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
Pakistan, who had been set a daunting 247-run target, were struggling at 40-3 before Sohail added 34 with skipper Misbah-ul Haq, who hit 13, and 38 with Sarfraz Ahmed, who hit 26, to steady the innings, The Dawn reported.
With just 13 runs needed at a run-a-ball Afridi was run out but Sohail hit Jimmy Neesham for his fifth boundary to seal the win with three balls to spare. The left-handed batsman also hit a six.
Afridi hit seven boundaries and a six in his 37th ODI fifty.
Earlier Ross Taylor became the sixth batsman, and first from his country, to score three hundreds in consecutive matches to lift New Zealand to 246-7. Pakistan's Zaheer Abbas and Saeed Anwar and South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs, AB de Villiers and Quinton de Kock have also achieved the feat.
Pakistan lost wickets at regular intervals with Mohammad Hafeez for his individual score of six, Asad Shafiq, who score five, Ahmed Shehzad, who hit 28, and Younis Khan, on just four, trudging back to the pavilion with the score barely passing 50.
Earlier Taylor had held together the New Zealand innings after Mohammad Irfan, delivering match figures of 3-57, had inflicted serious damage on the top order.
Taylor added 58 for the seventh wicket with former captain Vettori, who scored 27, in the final overs after steadying the innings during a 44-run sixth wicket stand with Luke Ronchi, who made 23.
Irfan had dismissed opener Dean Brownlie, batting on 14, and skipper Kane Williamson, on his individual score of 10, in his first five-over spell before returning to take Ronchi's wicket in the 38th over.
Tom Latham was run out for 13 and Neesham was trapped lbw by Afridi for one as New Zealand were left struggling at 111-5. Paceman Wahab Riaz claimed the wickets of opener Anton Devcich, who scored 26, and Vettori to finish with 2-51.
But Taylor kept one end intact, reaching his 27th ODI fifty with a single. He hit Umar Gul for a six and a four and then took a sharp single to complete his hundred off 133 balls with eight fours and a six.
The remaining matches would be played in Sharjah, on December 12 and 14, and Abu Dhabi, on December 17 and 19, the report added.
