New Zealand beat Pakistan by seven runs in the 3rd and final one-day international cricket match in Abu Dhabi to clinch the series on Monday night, November 09, 2009. This came after a hot pursuit for the trophy while Pakistan’s Mohammad Aamir became world’s new highest tenth-wicket batsman by hitting an unbeaten 73 of 81 balls.

Winning the toss and electing to bat first, the Kiwis set a target of 212 runs with Brendon McCullum leading the score at 76 of 78 balls. Chasing the target, Pakistan had a staggering start with 7 wickets falling for less than 13 runs per wicket. The arrival of Mohammad Amir whose at once confident and cautious hits succored Pakistan’s already collapsed batting on par with the Kiwis.

In the last 4 hours, the number of balls became nearly equal to the runs required for Pakistan’s victory, though Pakistan could not afford losing another wicket as nine had fallen already. Mohammad Aamir was Pakistan’s hero and at the team score of 101, he became the highest scorer playing as a tenth batsman in international one-day cricket. And sadly (for enthusiastic Pakistanis), the last wicket fell soon afterwards as Saeed Ajmal was caught on the first ball of the last over, at a total team score of 104 runs.

New Zealand’s captain Daniel Vettori admitted that he felt frustrated by the late resistance which had almost won Pakistan the final. Pakistan’s captain Younis Khan said they lost because of poor batting. He also said that he felt his team had panicked under pressure. He praised Aamir’s brilliant performance. Pakisatn and New Zealand will now play two T20 matches on November 12 and 13 in Dubai.