The hosts paid a heavy price for a straightforward dropped catch by Glenn Phillips at point off Tim Southee's bowling when Azam was on 27
CHRISTCHURCH: Skipper Babar Azam's half-century inspired Pakistan to their second Twenty20 international tri-series win in Christchurch on Saturday as they cruised past New Zealand by six wickets.
Azam lucked out, hitting 79 off 53 balls as his side took the series lead after their opening 21-run over Bangladesh on Friday.
New Zealand's 147-8 after winning the toss looked inadequate and Azam's knock snuffed out any prospects of victory to steer the tourists to 149-4 with 10 balls to spare.
The visitors paid a heavy price for Glenn Phillips' straightforward dropped catch at point off the bowling of Tim Southee when Azam was on 27.
The opener went on to make his 28th T20 international half-century, joint second alongside Rohit Sharma, with both sitting behind fellow Indian Virat Kohli (33).
Southee took the early wicket of Mohammad Rizwan - who scored a match-winning unbeaten 78 against Bangladesh - and Pakistan's middle order largely struggled apart from Shadab Khan's 34 balls from 22.
The result was virtually sealed when he and Haider Ali bowled 21 runs off Blair Tickner's (2-42) final over, the third last of the innings.
Azam said the quick-fire 61-run stand with Shadab for the third wicket gave a glimpse of the tactics they could use at the World Cup, with the all-rounder moved up the order.
"He played very well. We planned that I would go all the way and Shadab would take the chance."
Earlier, it took some late runs from middle-order batsman Mark Chapman to revive New Zealand's botched effort with the bat.
Chapman's 32 off 16 balls followed solid innings from opener Devon Conway (36 off 35) and skipper Kane Williamson (31 off 30), although both struggled for timing during the 61-run for the second wicket.
It was another frustrating result for the accomplished Williamson, who has crossed 50 just twice in all formats in the last 18 months, a period that spanned 29 innings.
He was clean when he tried to sweep the toil off spinner Mohammad Nawaz while Chapman burrowed into a slower ball from Pakistan's best bowler, paceman Haris Rauf (3-28).
New Zealand will play Bangladesh in the third match of the series on Sunday.
