Newcomer Haris Sohail batted with maturity during his maiden one-day-international half-century to steer Pakistan to a three-wicket, three-ball win in the first day-night international against New Zealand in Dubai.
The 25-year-old left-hander scored 85 off 109 balls on Monday and added 110 for the seventh wicket with veteran Shahid Afridi (61 off 51) to rescue Pakistan from a precarious 6-124 and turn it into a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
Pakistan, set a 247-run target, were struggling at 3-40 before Sohail added 34 with skipper Misbah-ul Haq (13) and 38 with Sarfraz Ahmed (26) to steady the innings.
With just 13 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.
Afridi hit seven boundaries and a six in his 37th one-day fifty.
Earlier, Ross Taylor (105no) became the sixth batsman, and first from his country, to score three hundreds in consecutive matches to lift New Zealand to 7-246.
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.
Misbah admitted it was a difficult match.
"It was very tough. Full marks to the way Sohail and Afridi batted and rescued us," he said.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson felt his team didn't capitalise on Taylor's hundred.
"I think on the back of Ross's superb knock we had a reasonable total on the board but it's a shame we didn't do the job well with the ball and Pakistan's middle order came good," said Williamson.
Taylor had held together the New Zealand innings after Mohammad Irfan (3-57) had inflicted serious damage on the top order.
Pakistan included all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez as a batsman alone after he was suspended over an illegal bowling action but left out hard-hitting Umar Akmal.
The remaining matches will be played in Sharjah (December 12 and 14) and Abu Dhabi (December 17 and 19).
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