Pakistan weathered a hostile spell from the seamers 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
Pakistan have won their first Test series since 2006, and deservedly so since they have been the better team throughout the series. It was perhaps a bit strange that they did not make more of an effort to try and win the series 2-0 given that coach Waqar Younis said they would push for two wins, but ultimately they opted for the safety-first approach and they were able to do that because of the ascendancy they claimed after the 1st Test in Hamilton. New Zealand would be disappointed but would realise that their batting let them down in both Tests, while today they were on top after the first hour with 3 wickets but couldn't dislodge Younis and Shafiq until after they had batted for substantial periods. Stick around for the presentations shortly.
New Zealand Cricket CEO and former international Justin Vaughan congratulates Pakistan and offers commiserations to the home side, which Shane Bond also does.
Daniel Vettori: We really enjoyed this Test, a great ground and a good pitch. We couldn't quite play catch-up in this Test and that is because Pakistan were on top after Hamilton. We now focus on getting our combinations right for the one-dayers and the World Cup.
Misbah ul-Haq, who is also Man of the Match: The team played really well and fought hard, in this Test everybody did their role and we saw the series as more important than this Test. Younis Khan batted well in both innings and Umar Gul did well in the last Test, but everybody's contributing and that's really good to see.
Misbah collects the series trophy and the team pose for the obligatory photos and are understandably fairly chuffed.
That concludes our coverage of this Test match, hope you have enjoyed it. Thanks for all your mails which often overwhelmed us in terms of volume, always interesting to read. Don't forget to join us for the one-day leg of this series, which begins on Saturday here in Wellington but at the Westpac Stadium. Nitin and Andrew will have their end-of-game pieces up shortly, but for now this is Avi Singh signing off on behalf of Sanjay Murari and everyone else here at ESPNcricinfo. Adios!
There is no shortage of remarkable stories in Pakistan cricket but Misbah's is something else altogether
Plays of the Day on day five of the Wellington Test between New Zealand and Pakistan
Plays of the Day on day five of the Wellington Test between New Zealand and Pakistan
New Zealand began day five at Basin Reserve needing to bowl Pakistan out to square the series but their attack lacked the penetration to dislodge the opposition batsmen
A fan so dedicated to watching the Test she passed out because of the heat. Or maybe it was the dull cricket...
