A whiff of an upset victory for New Zealand faded to a second cricket Test draw with Pakistan in the evening shadows of Dubai.
Both captains agreed to call time five overs early with Pakistan 196-5, chasing 261 for victory. The series now moves to Sharjah for the third and final Test on Wednesday with the hosts 1-0 up and the tourists needing victory to level it.
The Black Caps were much improved from their Abu Dhabi demolition and had Pakistan under rare pressure on occasions after winning an important toss. But they were still hampered by a lack of cutting edge in their bowling.
Pace duo Tim Southee and Trent Boult helped reduce Pakistan to 75-4 with 40 overs remaining and it looked game on for the Black Caps. But in favourable conditions for spin bowling, with some variable bounce, Ish Sodhi and Mark Craig couldn't sustain pressure and ended with five wickets between them for the match. Skipper Brendon McCullum even resorted to some offspin himself in the gathering gloom.
"They (New Zealand) have improved a lot from the last game and put us really under pressure," Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq said.
"We were planning to chase it down and bat normally up to 40-45 overs, but we lost three wickets in two-three overs, and that changed the whole scenario."
Pakistan's spin duo Zulfiqar Babar and Yasir Shah took 15 New Zealand scalps between them, including all nine in the second innings of 250-9 declared. That was highlighted by Ross Taylor's knock of 104, his 12th test century which helped set Pakistan 261 off 72 overs at an asking rate of 3.6 per over.
New Zealand would have preferred a full day for the bowlers to do the job, but with the pitch puffing up dust and crumbling in the footmarks, both spin and pace had their chances.
It was the Black Caps' seasoned pace duo who got them going.
Southee snared an early scalp, of Taufeeq Umar, then Mark Craig got a bonus when Azhar Ali steered a full toss straight to cover.
That sparked some captaincy gold from McCullum who dragged Craig despite the wicket, and summoned Boult.
The left-armer had clearly been working hard on honing reverse swing and produced a sharp burst that swung the game clearly towards New Zealand.
He tailed in a yorker to trap Shan Masood lbw, then was brutal towards Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq. In the classic one-two punch, Boult smacked the skipper a painful blow to the bicep, then next ball tailed one away and found the edge in a dream fast bowler's dismissal.
At 75-4 and with 40 overs still remaining, the Black Caps dared to dream.
Younis Khan was the immovable object once more, but on 44 he tried to charge Craig once too often and the pitch did the rest as the ball ballooned off his glove. It was a welcome relief for the offspinner who was clouted for nine sixes in the test.
Younis' departure opened the door again for New Zealand but they couldn't take the chance and ran out of time. Gloveman BJ Watling stood up to all the pacemen but there was little in it for them to consistently unsettle the batsmen.
"It was a right result for both teams, and credit to Pakistan for the way they fought it out," McCullum said.
"The toss was really important ... We followed the blueprint that Pakistan have been using ... which allowed us to be in a position from where we could have won the test match."
Earlier, Taylor hauled New Zealand back up into a winning position and vaulted up the century charts with his 12th test ton.
Resuming on 77, Taylor marched on to join the former coach, John Wright, in second equal on the New Zealand charts with only Martin Crowe's 17 ahead of them.
His measured, mature knock, with solid backing from Craig and some late brutality from Southee enabled New Zealand to declare on 250-9 and give themselves a sniff.
The century was a bit of a drought-breaker in the desert for Taylor. Almost a year on from his record-breaking deeds against West Indies, he issued a reminder of his class.
In 12 innings since that trio of centuries at home last December, Taylor had passed 50 just once.
He lingered in the 90s for what seemed an eternity before he pushed a single of Ehsan Adil and brought his team-mates to their feet on the balcony. His century came up off 129 balls and included 12 fours, then he was gone just as fast when stumped off Shah.
The batsmen launched after Taylor reached his milestone as they desperately tried to give the bowlers something to aim at. Craig (34 off 53) was invaluable then Southee went 6, 6, 6 off Babar to crack 20 off five before he was caught.
Scoreboard at stumps on day five of the second cricket test between New Zealand and Pakistan in Dubai:
NEW ZEALAND
First innings 403
PAKISTAN
First innings 393
NEW ZEALAND
Second innings
T Latham c Asad Shafiq b Yasir Shah 9
B McCullum lbw b Zulfiqar Babar 45
K Williamson c Taufeeq Umar b Zulfiqar Babar 11
R Taylor st Sarfraz Ahmed b Yasir Shah 104
C Anderson b Yasir Shah 0
J Neesham b Zulfiqar Babar 11
B Watling c Asad Shafiq b Yasir Shah 11
M Craig c Rahat Ali b Yasir Shah 34
T Southee c Azhar Ali b Zulfiqar Babar 20
I Sodhi not out 2
Extras (lb 3) 3
Total (for 9 wickets declared, 64.5 overs) 250
Fall: 1-42 (Latham), 2-63 (Williamson), 3-78 (McCullum), 4-79 (Anderson), 5-125 (Neesham), 6-166 (Watling), 7-226 (Craig), 8-228 (Taylor), 9-250 (Southee).
Bowling: Rahat Ali 8-0-39-0, Ehsan Adil 8-1-33-0, Zulfiqar Babar 27.5-5-96-4, Yasir Shah 21-1-79-5.
PAKISTAN
Second innings (target 261)
Shan Masood lbw b Boult 40
Taufeeq Umar c Watling b Southee 4
Azhar Ali c Neesham b Craig 24
Younis Khan c Taylor b Craig 44
Misbah ul-Haq c Watling b Boult 0
Asad Shafiq not out 41
Sarfraz Ahmed not out 24
Extras (b 15, lb 2, wd 1, nb 1) 19
Total (for 5 wickets, 67 overs) 196
Fall: 1-8 (Taufeeq Umar), 2-70 (Azhar Ali), 3-73 (Shan Masood), 4-75 (Misbah ul-Haq), 5-149 (Younis Khan).
Bowling: T Boult 10-6-12-2, T Southee 11-3-21-1, M Craig 17-3-66-2, I Sodhi 21-5-63-0, C Anderson 3-1-4-0 (1w), J Neesham 2-1-1-0, B McCullum 3-0-12-0 (1nb).
Result: Draw
Series: Pakistan lead three-test series 1-0
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