Brendon McCullum was caught at deep square-leg off paceman Ehsan Adil for 43 after a solid opening stand of 77 at Dubai stadium.
At the break Tom Latham was on 35 and Kane Williamson was four not out.
New Zealand, trailing 1-0 in the three-match series, kept an unchanged side despite their 248-run defeat in the first Test in Abu Dhabi.
Pakistan were forced to make three changes with Mohammad Hafeez (hamstring), Ahmed Shehzad (skull fracture) and Imran Khan (rested) replaced by Shan Masood, Taufeeq Umar and Adil.