The experienced Philip Burrows actually hit the backboard for New Zealand with five minutes remaining but his effort was disallowed as Pakistan held on for victory. Pakistan, champions here in 2003 and runners-up last year, took the lead through an Adnan Zakir field goal on 15 minutes but the impressive Gareth Brooks equalised only seven minutes later.
Mohamed Imran scored the winning goal three minutes before half-time from a penalty corner.
Pakistan relied heavily on youngster Imran Warsi, who is hailed as the new Sohail Abbas, the team’s Dutch-based record goalscorer who was ignored for the tournament because he failed to attend training sessions.
“I told him not to put too much pressure on himself and play his own game instead of trying to play like Sohail,” said Pakistan coach Tahir Zaman. “We were a bit loose in the first 10 minutes then we got into a rhythm.
“It was just good to get this first win.”
Both teams will be disappointed with their penalty corner conversion rates. New Zealand in particular had several chances to equalise in the second half through short corners but were let down by poor finishing.
Pakistan arrived in Kuala Lumpur with 12 junior players in their 18-man squad while New Zealand have brought 11 players who played at last years Athens Olympics with five of their squad under 22 years old.
The Kiwis are using the tournament as part of their buildup for next years Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and the World Cup in Germany.
New Zealand next face India on Friday while Pakistans must wait until Saturday for their second game against South Korea.
Meanwhile, India needed a last-gasp penalty corner from Len Aiyappa to snatch a 2-1 victory over South Africa.
Aiyappa smashed home the winner for his second goal of the game after the South Africans had fought back from a goal down.
India, who appointed Rajinder Singh Jnr as head coach last month following the sacking of German Gerhard Rach, started nervously and failed to dominate their opponents as had been expected.
They showed more urgency after the break and took the lead in the 47th minute through penalty corner specialist Aiyappa.
But South Africa stunned the Indians just three minutes later when they equalised through Clyde Abrahamas.
South Africa hit the crossbar from a short corner minutes before Aiyappa stepped up to slam home the winner at the stroke of full-time. Olympic champs Australia off to winning start in Sultan Azlan Shah Cup
Olympic champions Australia got off to a winning start in their defence of their title when they beat hosts Malaysia 3-1.
The tournament favourites, plagued by off-field controversy over the absence of last years hero Troy Elder, scored all their three goals through penalty corners in an efficient first-half display with Travis Brooks collecting a brace and Robert Hammond hitting the third.
Malaysia managed to contain the Kookaburras in the second half and pulled a goal back through Hairul Nizam Abdul Rani in the 63rd minute, also from a penalty corner.
Before the tournament, Australian coach Barry Dancer called for player unity over the suspension of the popular Elder, banned for 12 months for snubbing the Kuala Lumpur event in favour of Dutch club hockey.
And his players showed poise and skill as they outplayed the hosts for most of the match.
“Everything went according to plan,” said Dancer on Thursday. “We did very well in the first half although we were not as good after the break. But overall, it was a good performance.”—AFP