Misbah, Younis set up drawn match and series win

New Zealand 356 (Vettori 110, Gul 4-87) and 293 (Guptill 73, Gul 4-61) drew Pakistan 376 (Misbah 99, Martin 4-91) and 226 for 5 (Younis 81, Misbah 70*)

In pic: Younis Khan's trademark flourish shone through despite the dullness of the proceedings © Getty Images

Pakistan weathered a hostile opening spell that reduced them to 42 for 3 in the first hour, worked their way to safety in the second session, and made a half-hearted attempt to win the match before settling for a draw, that gave them the series 1-0 - their first outside the subcontinent since the triumph in New Zealand in 2003-04, and their first anywhere since 2006-07. It was another impressive result for a team that has managed to hold its own on the field - with Test wins against England and Australia, and a drawn series against South Africa - despite facing a mountain of problems off it.

Pakistan's resistance was authored by heroics from Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan for the second time in the match, after Chris Martin and Tim Southee had hustled out the top three. The action unraveled at a furious pace in the morning before settling into classic Test match grind in the afternoon as Pakistan's determination blunted New Zealand's limited attack. The home side's woes were compounded by Daniel Vettori's disappointing show, on a pitch where even Mohammad Hafeez's part-time fare had turned viciously on day four. As things transpired, Pakistan adopted the path of complete caution, which ultimately left them short of time to push for a win against an attack that withered through the day, despite a late surge from Vettori.

New Zealand's bowlers began in stark contrast to the manner in which they finished off. Martin bounded in from wide of the crease and bent his inswingers into the right-handers, while Southee got his legcutters to straighten lethally. Their menacing rhythm crippled Pakistan's chase before they could find their bearings.

Taufeeq Umar succumbed first ball, as Southee got one to land on off stump, straighten and burst through the forward press to hit the back pad. Martin got the inswingers going, and mixed them cleverly to plant seeds of doubt in the batsmen's minds. Hafeez was conscious to push forward and negate the inward movement, but ended up groping for the ones that held their line. He guided one off a thick outside edge through the covers, and survived a possible edge off Martin that Rod Tucker did not spot.

Tempers frayed, and words were exchanged between Southee and Hafeez following a couple of pacy short balls that were dispatched to the boundary, but Martin plugged away without a fuss. Azhar Ali walked into a flick to be trapped by another inducker, and Younis barely survived a couple of deliveries that whistled past his outside edge. Hafeez eventually ran out of luck, as Martin enticed him to edge one outside off stump.

Younis overcame the uncertain start to settle down with an assurance that justified his enviable fourth-innings record. With the ball losing its shine, Martin's inswing disappeared, allowing Younis to pick him for boundaries him behind square, straight and through gully. Vettori held the key, but his ineffectiveness was epitomised by the fact that his only weapon was the quicker one that skidded through. Younis handled him with clear and decisive footwork, while Misbah resorted to playing inside the line with soft hands.

With the main bowlers failing in their opening spells after lunch, Vettori resorted to James Franklin who nearly produced the breakthrough. With the score on 108, Misbah nearly carved him straight into the covers, his only major error on a day of immense resolve. On either side of that blemish, Misbah was so efficient that he went by almost completely unnoticed. He only opened up with tea in sight, pulling and steering Southee off the back foot to take his side past 150.

Misbah's approach meant the spotlight was completely on Younis, and his trademark flourish shone through despite the dullness of the proceedings. His hallmark in the first innings was his shot selection, but today it was his fine judgment. Brent Arnel tested him with a slew of very full deliveries, but Younis played him out with unwavering gumption before capitalising on a half-volley. When the spinners - Vettori, Martin Guptill and Jesse Ryder - came back in search of turn, Younis pounced on them, stealing five boundaries to leave New Zealand worried. His dismissal at the stroke of tea, edging a harmless delivery behind, was completely out of character and against the run of play, and it decisively altered Pakistan's approach after tea.

The final session was an anti-climactic period of attrition, with both sides more anxious to avoid defeat than to push for a victory. With Younis gone, Misbah secured the shutters he had already downed. Defending 114 in a minimum of 33.2 overs, New Zealand were not eager on a full frontal attack, either. Asad Shafiq was on a pair for 22 balls before opening his account with a six and a four through Vettori's open straight fields. He later unfurled a couple of pleasing hook shots when a tiring Southee hurled them in short. Misbah was not tempted so easily, scoring almost exclusively when he was fed on his pads, to move to his sixth successive half-century, three of them unbeaten.

Realising that Pakistan had shut shop, Vettori brought some fielders close in and removed Shafiq in the 84th over. It was the first time in the day that he had managed to look threatening, and it had come too late for his side. His loud appeals as the game sputtered to a close were in stark contrast to the unwavering calmness with which Misbah handled him. The battle may have ended in stalemate, but Misbah had won the war for his side. -ESPNcricinfo

Misbah, Younis give Pakistan slender lead

New Zealand 356 (Vettori 110, Taylor 78, Gul 4-87) and 9 for 0 trail Pakistan 376 (Misbah 99, Younis 73, Martin 4-91, Vettori 4-100) by 11 runs

In pic: Younis Khan was in fine touch before being undone by a poor umpiring call © Getty Images

Misbah-ul-Haq quelled a threatening spell of reverse swing early on the third morning, before dictating terms against New Zealand's seamers, to drive Pakistan to a 20-run lead as the wind subsided for the first time at the Basin Reserve. Pakistan's progress was based on Misbah's 142-run stand with Younis Khan, during which New Zealand's attack seemed to have run out of ideas. Younis' exit for 73 - the seventh umpiring error in the match, without counting missed no-balls - sparked a resurgence from the home side. After tea, they attacked with Daniel Vettori's turn and Chris Martin's bounce to skittle out Pakistan's lower half for the addition of just 52, including Misbah on 99. New Zealand's openers played out the last five overs of the day without damage to leave the game even at stumps.

Before their inspired burst in the final session, New Zealand were surprisingly subdued through the day, barring a lively opening burst from Martin. He began with a swerving bouncer that started well outside off before darting in viciously towards Azhar Ali who had to weave away and drop his wrists. Martin followed that up with a series of reverse-swingers before outwitting Azhar with another sharp lifter that was fended into the slips as it reared up outside off stump. Younis and Misbah also began edgily against the movement before easing into business with a series of sparkling drives as the sun came out and Martin began to lose his sting.

The ball, deemed to be out of shape, was replaced at the stroke of the first hour and reverse swing immediately became conspicuous by its absence. With the pitch not taking much turn, Misbah handled Vettori's drift by lunging forward instead of across and defending from inside the line. New Zealand's main variations had been nullified, and thereafter they were asking to be dominated.

Younis cashed in against a flagging attack, punching a short delivery from Tim Southee square and driving one that was too straight through wide long-on for boundaries. Misbah attacked his opposite number in the lead-up to lunch, pulling out a slog sweep and a lofted on-drive as Pakistan moved past 200.

Soon after the break, Brent Arnel opened with the new ball, running in for a friendly over that underlined New Zealand's lack of intent: it began with a wayward loosener outside off, and included a misdirected bouncer down the leg side. In his second over, Misbah guided Arnel twice through the cordon for boundaries. Martin replaced Arnel and got his inswingers going, but the horse had bolted by then. Younis punched Martin twice down the ground, the first bringing up his half-century and the second, the 100-run stand.

Southee put in a solid effort from the other end, and got the odd legcutter to nip away from the right-handers. Despite being beaten on a couple of occasions, Misbah had the presence of mind to play with soft hands, and his obduracy frustrated Southee who got into a verbal duel with him. Misbah responded with two calmly stroked boundaries through the covers to bring up his fifth successive half-century, and his fifth in six innings since taking over as captain.

Vettori was running out of ideas, and brought James Franklin on, seemingly with the intention of creating a rough outside the right-hander's off stump. Franklin promptly got a warning for running on the pitch, but Vettori began to pose some riddles from the other end. He eventually got past Younis, thanks to drift and a poor call from umpire Rod Tucker, caught close-in on the leg side straight off the pad.

Younis' exit prompted Vettori to finally go on the attack, and he looped them into the rough with fielders crouching close in. Asad Shafiq edged his fifth ball as it ripped away from middle and leg, taking the outside edge on its way into the slips. Vettori also had Adnan Akmal in some strife with well-disguised arm-balls before getting him to top-edge a sweep.

Martin stepped up to support his captain, and bullied Abdur Rehman into submission with bounce, with Pakistan still 22 behind. Umar Gul biffed Pakistan into the lead with a series of middled pulls and slog-sweeps. While the action unravelled at one end, Misbah chugged along towards a hundred that seemed almost inevitable.

He negated Martin's bounce by staying in the crease, and capitalised when there was width to pick up boundaries through the off side. With Misbah a run away from his third ton, Martin landed a couple of balls well outside off before cleverly slanting one back in, to rap him on the move in front of off stump. The innings ended soon after, Vettori finishing a wicket shy of becoming only the second New Zealander to make a century and pick a five-for in the same match. -ESPNcricinfo

Gul, Tanvir put Pakistan ahead in windy Wellington

Stumps New Zealand 246 for 6 (Taylor 78, Gul 2-53, Tanvir 2-63) v Pakistan

Ross Taylor's innings was a heady mix of caution and enterprise © Getty Images

Pakistan's seamers punctuated spells of ordinariness with sparks of brilliance to dismantle New Zealand's top order and put their side ahead at stumps. Umar Gul and Tanvir Ahmed were lethal in the first hours of the first two sessions, and though Ross Taylor survived their bursts with a mix of caution and enterprise, the home batsmen suffered from a general lack of confidence that prevented them from counterattacking when the bowlers were on song, and from dominating when they weren't.

Gul began Pakistan's dominance with a new-ball spell that oozed intent from the outset. Resisting the natural urge to crank up the pace when aided by a breeze, he relied on subtle sleight of hand and a high release to probe away at the top order. In the first over, he got a swerving inducker to strike Brendon McCullum - who was not offering a shot - above the knee roll. Umpire Daryl Harper ruled in Gul's favour, though replays suggested the bounce was taking it over the stumps. Things were evened out in Gul's next over, when Martin Guptill edged a legcutter on its way to Adnan Akmal, unnoticed by Harper.

That delivery set the template for Gul, who relentlessly pinged uncomfortable lengths on and around off stump, serving up the odd legcutter to go with ones that held their line, carrying through at good height. In his seventh over, he nailed Kane Williamson with a carbon copy of the delivery that Guptill had edged.

Gul also threatened to dislodge Taylor early, beating his outside edge and inducing an inside edge within the batsman's first three deliveries. His opening burst was, however, coming to an end, and Taylor faced fewer challenges thereafter and approached the pre-lunch session with refreshing freedom. Every time Wahab Riaz offered width, Taylor attacked through the off side, driving square and through the covers, and cutting for boundaries.

Consigned to the Scoreboard End, Abdur Rehman resorted to a quick arm and flat trajectory while bowling into a wind that stiffened to 70kmh by lunch. Taylor settled down after the initial flourish and, along with a cautious Guptill, promised to push New Zealand ahead in the second session. Tanvir, however, had plans of his own.

Tanvir had an infuriatingly inconsistent day that was bookended by listless spells into the wind, with both new balls. In the middle session, though, he whistled in from the Vance End at the mid-130s, settling into a miserly rhythm that accentuated the threat of the occasional away-seamer. Guptill was gradually choked for runs and, after playing 12 successive dot balls, he flashed at one well outside off. Jesse Ryder came and went, nicking a ball that was dangled across him, bagging his second successive first-ball duck. James Franklin kept out the hat-trick ball, a scorching yorker that was aimed at the toes but, at 100 for 4, the force was with Pakistan.

Taylor spent most of Tanvir's rampant spell at the non-striker's end, facing only five deliveries from the seamer in the hour following lunch. His battles were against Rehman's teasing line of attack, straightening deliveries from leg stump without offering too much flight, while getting extra bounce. taylor attempted to disperse the crouching in-fielders with a lovely loft for six over wide long-on, and forced two men back on the leg side. However, with wickets falling at the other end, Rehman continued to attack with slip and short leg, and Taylor played within himself unless presented with a bad ball. When Rehman was marginally off-line, he glanced and cut for boundaries, and brought up his half-century by slapping Gul through point for three. As was the case with Tanvir, Gul too metamorphosed at the lunch break and posed no problems through the rest of the day.

Franklin sealed an end with compact defence, camping on the back foot, and keeping out a barrage of searching length deliveries that were angled across him. Along with Taylor, he seemed to have taken the sting out of the Pakistan attack, and when he creamed Tanvir for two early boundaries post tea, New Zealand's fightback seemed set to step up a gear.

Adnan Akmal shifted the momentum back in Pakistan's favour, though, with the best of his five catches in the day. He moved quickly to his right and showed admirable hand-eye coordination to grab a thin edge from Franklin. Riaz took the big wicket, after plodding through the day without courting the extremes like his seaming colleagues did. Returning to the attack for a final fling before the new ball became due, Riaz got Taylor to nick a harmless delivery angling across him and Adnan - scarcely reminiscent of his butter-fingered brother Kamran - pouched another one with elan, diving to his right.

Wind interruptions, and a shocking lack of urgency, meant that Pakistan were well behind the over-rates, forcing Rehman to operate for longer than they would have desired. Thus ensued a period of attrition, with both sides too encumbered to challenge the status quo. Vettori used the opportunity to play himself in, cutting and pulling Rehman for easy boundaries. Young was solid in defence, blocking his way to 7 off 59 balls, before opening up against the second new ball that leaked 36 runs in eight overs. Tanvir was visibly out of steam by now, and was duly taken for 21 in two overs as New Zealand ended the day with a flourish. The fact that they still finished a distant second, underlined just how far they had allowed an average attack dictate proceedings. -ESPNcricinfo

Gambhir ton seals series win against shaky New Zealand

India 229 for 1 (Gambhir 126*, Kohli 63*) beat New Zealand 224 for 9 (Franklin 72*, Yusuf 2-27, Zaheer 2-31) by nine wickets

	In pic: M Vijay was not at his most fluent, but barring that India had few worries in Vadodara © AFP

New Zealand's one-day woes continued into a ninth straight game as their batting failed to cope with moist early-morning conditions in Vadodara. Zaheer Khan, coming back after injury, and Munaf Patel swung and seamed the ball all right, but New Zealand will look back at how unremarkable their response was. With the pitch easing out in the afternoon, Gautam Gambhir made the chase look ridiculously easy, becoming only the eighth captain to score centuries in back-to-back ODIs.

From the time he won the toss and put New Zealand in, Gambhir hardly put a foot wrong, keeping his perfect captaincy record and India's unbeaten home season intact. New Zealand's openers gifted their wickets, the middle order went into a shell, and even though James Franklin and Nathan McCullum added 94 for the eighth wicket, it was never going to be enough. Not with Gambhir making room and peppering the off side with drives and cuts, bringing up his fifty in 30 balls, out of India's 64 then.

Watching Gambhir bat, the struggle New Zealand went through early in the morning seemed far away. Brendon McCullum, making a comeback himself, laid out a welcome mat for Zaheer, guiding a widish delivery straight to second slip. Martin Guptill ran himself out soon after.

Between those dismissals, Williamson set the template for the day. His front foot went across to the first ball he faced. It swung in enough down the leg side to be called a wide, but Williamson had fallen over trying to correct the movement. Neither Williamson nor Ross Taylor could get rid of that tendency during their short stays. Taylor's wicket, though, came in a tame fashion as he tried drive Zaheer on the up. The shot was played away from his body, and an inside edge ensued.

Taylor's No. 4 position has been a matter of debate, with arguments that he should take more responsibility and bat at No. 3. Williamson's inability to counterattack only seemed to highlight that notion. For the third game running, he got off to a slow start, and did little to hit Munaf off his plan.

Munaf loves to bowl back of a length, just outside off, and wobble the ball slightly either way. He tends to get a bit rattled when somebody uses that predictability to come down and hit him. In this series, though, no one has come close to doing that. And once Williamson allowed Munaf to do what he wanted, that lbw call seemed a matter of time with the batsman regularly falling over.

Modern captains tend to go into the containment mode once the 15th over ends irrespective of how many wickets they might have got. Gambhir, who had put New Zealand in, was refreshingly old-school. When he saw R Ashwin turn the first ball, he set Test-match fields for Scott Styris and James Franklin. Yuvraj, at leg slip, soon came into action taking a sharp low catch to send Styris back. Daniel Vettori did a B McCullum, guiding Yusuf Pathan straight to slip for another sharp catch for Yuvraj, who later returned to leg slip to get rid of Gareth Hopkins too.

Having fallen behind the over-rate, though, Gambhir omitted to use four of Zaheer and Nehra's overs. Facing part-time spinners on a pitch that had eased out a bit, Franklin and N McCullum had little trouble building a partnership. It was almost as if Gambhir was not concerned at all by their stand.

The way he turned out with the bat, Gambhir need not have worried either.

After having been at the wrong end of Gambhir's off-side play in Jaipur, New Zealand tried to cramp him up, and found that Gambhir was equally adept at scoring through the on side. He flicked the second ball he faced fine for a boundary. In Kyle Mills' next over, he picked the gap between mid-on and midwicket. In Mills' next, Gambhir started making room and went into his favourite off side. He capitalised on the correction on the next delivery, moving to 23 off 11.

Andy McKay got the same treatment: wide ball, four; too straight, four; wide again, four. With time, Gambhir's favourite chips over extra cover and midwicket came out too. He might have seemed to slow down after reaching his fifty, but he took only 58 further deliveries to get to the hundred.

M Vijay didn't struggle like he did in Jaipur, but had to stay content with being the lesser partner in the opening stand. And like he did in Japiur, Virat Kohli came out and scored a half-century in the company of his captain as India cantered home.

Still lots of cricket left - Vettori

It was a strange day. Over two hours of play were lost, but it had rained for just 40 minutes yesterday afternoon. Just before the toss, Brendon McCullum collapsed during a gentle warm-up session, and couldn't open the batting. Then the team that batted so well in the last two Tests went down as if they were shot. The bowling was fine, but it wasn't of such high quality to warrant such a collapse. And just as you thought New Zealand had raised the white flag, two limping men put up a stiff fight.

India celebrate the dismissal of Daniel Vettori

Watching New Zealand surrender meekly this afternoon, after they had matched India over the first two Tests, it's tempting to reach for an easy answer: was it because they do well as underdogs but the moment they are on even keel with their opponents, they freeze up? They considered themselves favourites in Bangladesh, but were crushed. They were expected to go down tamely to India, but they reached Nagpur with their reputations enhanced. And then they froze today.

Daniel Vettori, of course, didn't see it that way. "I don't think so. You have to give credit to India; they bowled well and hit the right areas. The feedback is that it's not a 400-500 run wicket." It may not be a 400-run pitch, but it wasn't bad for batting either. "They bowled well, the spin was slow, but it's not a 147 for 7-wicket," Vettori admitted.

Another easy answer to the conundrum lies in McCullum's injury. It is a big blow to lose an in-form opener, especially someone like McCullum whose aggressive batting puts pressure on the opposition attack. Still, it can't be an excuse for such a poor show by the rest of the batsmen. After all, this is just McCullum's first series as an opener and New Zealand can't already depend so heavily on him. And openers, especially the attacking kind, do get out early on many occasions.

Perhaps it was the timing of the injury and the resultant confusion that triggered a chaotic state of mind in the camp? Vettori didn't agree to that one either. "No, I don't think so. Apart from myself, it was not like the other guys got themselves out. It wasn't a hard decision at the toss [to bat first]. The nature of the wicket was to bat first. We were pretty confident that Brendon will come out to bat tomorrow and bat and run normally. Unfortunately it didn't happen. He still showed what a quality player to come out to play and play so well. Brendon has as history of back spasms; they normally take a day to heal. We wanted to bat out the day and have him come out in the middle order, but unfortunately that didn't happen."

There is one other simple conclusion lurking in the background. It would be easy to say that India will go on to take a big lead, have enough time to bowl out New Zealand in the second, and seal a series win. But it's too simple a thought, and Vettori left with a note of defiance: "If we can scrap hard tomorrow and get some runs and then take early wickets we can put the pressure back on India. There's still lots of cricket left in the game."

By tomorrow, New Zealand will return to being the underdogs and will have their backs to the wall. It's where they like to be and when they play their best cricket.