ABU DHABI: New Zealand captain Kane Williamson won the toss and opted to bat in the fifth and final day-night international against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
The match becomes the series-decider as both teams are levelled at 2-2 after Pakistan won the first and third while New Zealand took the second and fourth games.
Since 2003 Pakistan have won only one of the 12 final matches after the series was tied at 1-1 or 2-2, with their only win coming against Zimbabwe in 2013.
Injury-hit Pakistan were further jolted as opener Mohammad Hafeez, already under suspension for his illegal bowling action, was ruled out due to a recurrence of a hamstring injury.
His place went to out-of-form Asad Shafiq while Sohail Tanvir, expensive in the fourth match on Wednesday, made way for left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar's first game in the series.
New Zealand brought in Anton Devcich and Nathan McCullum for Corey Anderson and Daniel Vettori.
Vettori left to return home to attend his brother's wedding.
Teams:
Pakistan: Shahid Afridi (captain), Ahmed Shehzad, Haris Sohail, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Irfan, Nasir Jamshed, Sarfraz Ahmed, Zulfiqar Babar, Umar Akmal, Younis Khan, Anwar Ali.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (captain), Anton Devcich, Dean Brownlie, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Mitchell McClenaghan, Adam Milne, Luke Ronchi, Ross Taylor, Nathan McCullum.
Umpires: Ahsan Raza (PAK) and Joel Wilson (WIS)
Tv umpire: Richard Illingworth (ENG)
Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (SRI)
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