AFP

Malaysia, Apr 7: New Zealand lived up to their favorites tag in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup on Monday when they snatched a late 3-2 win over former world champions Pakistan, who are now ruled out of the finals.

The match was headed for a draw when a quick counter attack rattled Pakistan right half Zeeshan Ali, whose foul in the D gave away a penalty stroke converted in the 68th minute by Dean Couzins.

The Kiwis, ranked world number seven, initially took the lead in the seventh minute when Priyesh Bhana, making his debut, scored from a field attempt.

Pakistan, ranked eighth in the world, were back on level terms a minute later when Dilawar Hussain deflected a Mohamed Imran penalty corner into the right side of the net.

The Pakistanis gained in confidence and in the 23rd minute Mohamed Imran sent a direct flick to beat goalkeeper Kyle Pontifex, taking the score to 2-1 for the Pakistanis at the end of the half.

New Zealand changed their game plan in the second half, paying dividends as they began to dominate play, and Nicholas Haig scored their equaliser in the 44th minute.

A sustained raid on the Pakistan semi-circle finally paid off when they forced an error to earn the penalty stroke and 27-year-old Couzins made sure of full points for the Kiwis.

"We did change our play in the second half and it made a difference," said New Zealand coach Shane Mcleod.

Pakistan are now out of the running for a finals berth, after two defeats in a row with a 2-3 loss to Malaysia on Sunday.

"With two defeats we cannot hope to finish among the top two. It was a bad performance from my players and I'm disappointed. We had a game plan but the players did not follow it," said Pakistan coach Shahid Ali Khan.

"No doubt that this is a learning curve for my players but we must improve with each match. Everything went wrong for us."

"We must now pick ourselves up and try to win the remaining two matches against India and Egypt," he said.

In the second match hosts Malaysia chalked up their second straight win by beating Egypt 4-1.

The Malaysians had a 1-0 first half lead through a field goal from Ismail Abu in the 27th minute.

Engku Abdul Malek increased the lead in the 39th minute with a penalty corner goal but Ahmed Abd El Hakiem pulled one back for Egypt in the 45th.

The Malaysians finished the match stronger with two goals from Chua Boon Huat. His goals from two penalty corner deflections came in the 64th and 68th minutes.

The teams will take a break on Tuesday and the tournament resumes on Wednesday with New Zealand playing Egypt and Malaysia lining up against India.