New Zealand 159 for 3 (Mitchell 72*, Phillips 70*, Afridi 3-34) beat Pakistan 158 for 5 (Rizwan 90*, Henry 2-22, Ferguson 2-27) by seven wickets

Rizwan, Babar light up powerplay

Pakistan were batting first for the first time in this series. But Henry put an early spanner in their works when he had Saim Ayub edging to first slip, where Mitchell took a straightforward catch on the second attempt.

Rizwan, however, wasn't going to get bogged down. Adam Milne, playing his 50th T20I, was taken for two successive fours, while Tim Southee also was given a similar treatment. Rizwan then dispatched Ferguson miles over deep midwicket, with Babar Azam also joining in on the fun as Pakistan raced to 51 for 1 in six overs.

Rizwan goes big, but middle order disappoints

Rizwan continued his merry ways, finding the gaps at regular intervals. But as has been the case with Pakistan's batting this series, they failed to stitch partnerships. Babar fell to a 149.5kph Milne bumper that he could only mistime to Phillips at deep midwicket. Fakhar Zaman came in and sucked the momentum out of the innings, labouring to 9 off 15 before Ferguson put him out of his misery. Sahibzada Farhan, who replaced Azam Khan, lasted two balls as Pakistan slipped to 86 for 4 after 13 overs.

However, on a two-paced surface, 158 seemed a touch under par.

Afridi rocks New Zealand early

The skip in the step was back and so was the famous celebration. Finn Allen struck Afridi for two fours on the bounce, but on the fourth ball of the first over, he closed the face of the bat too soon on a full-length ball on leg stump to be caught at point. Two balls later, Tim Seifert's feeble chip landed straight into the hands of Babar at mid-off. Afridi was not done yet. He then got a short-of-length ball going at Will Young, who struck a powerful pull but Nawaz at short midwicket flung to his right and plucked out a good catch. New Zealand suddenly found themselves in unfamiliar territory at 20 for 3 after 2.4 overs.

Phillips, Mitchell ace the chase

It was like a perfect template on how to set up a chase when the team has lost a few wickets early. Phillps was his usual busy self, collecting boundaries and sprinting like a gazelle between wickets. Mitchell was patient, initially, even when the required run rate breached the nine-run mark.

New Zealand managed only 38 runs in the powerplay and reached 70 after ten. But importantly, they did not lose a wicket. Not that they did not give chances. A big moment in the game came in the tenth over when Mitchell mis-hit a sweep off Nawaz to deep backward square leg where Mohammad Wasim misjudged the catch with the ball falling almost at his feet. In the 13th over then, it was Farhan who dropped a dolly at long-on.

Mitchell made sure he cashed in. With the required rated climbing, he got into overdrive finding gaps regularly. From scoring 14 off his first 16, he raced to his fifty off 34 balls with a six off Afridi. Phillips also got his half-century in 41 balls with both batters switching to carnage mode. The Pakistan bowlers looked clueless and the target was eventually achieved with 11 balls to spare.