An unbeaten 93 by Misbahul Haq paved the way for a narrow two-wicket Pakistan victory over New Zealand with an over to spare in the fourth one-day international Tuesday.

The win put Pakistan 2-1 up in the six-match series with one game abandoned as both sides fine-tune ahead of this month's World Cup.

Set a modest target of263 to win on a track described by captain Shahid Afridi as "heaven for a batsman" Pakistan appeared to have misjudged their run chase, despite Misbah's heroics, as the match headed for a tense finish.

But tailender Sohail Tanvir took control, arriving in the middle with two overs remaining, two wickets left and 13 runs required to secure a slim victory.

Sohail did not give Misbah a chance to reach his century as he smacked 14 off Tim Southee in the penultimate over to settle the outcome.

It was a match with a familiar feel for New Zealand as their specialist batsmen failed on a track where 300 is considered par and it was left to the middle and tail order to bolster the tally.

After winning the toss and electing to bat first, New Zealand captain DanielVettori had reason to feel his decision was justified as Martin Guptill (21) and Jamie How (13) raced to 40 in the seventh over.

But the innings soon fell apart in the face of a lethal spell from Wahab Riaz and Abdul Razzaq.

In the space of two overs New Zealand lost three wickets for four runs and then stumbled to five for 79.

SCORES IN BRIEF

NEW ZEALAND: 262 for 7 (Guptill 21, Franklin 62, McCullum 37, McCullum 53 not out;Riaz3-51)

PAKISTAN: 264 for 8 (Shehzad 42, Akmal 20, Younis 42, Misbah 93 not out, Razzaq 23; Bennett 2-48, Vettori 2-48, Styris 3-40) Result: Pakistan won by two wickets.

Man-of-the-match: Misbahul Haq.