Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf hailed his team's bowling performance after they levelled the three-match Test series with a comprehensive 141-run win over New Zealand in Wellington.

Having bowled out New Zealand for 99 in the first innings, Pakistan got to 239 in their second innings to set the Black Caps a mammoth 405 runs to win.

New Zealand never looked likely of chasing it down as man-of-the-match Mohammad Asif continued his strong comeback from injury and a drugs ban with a five-wicket haul which included the wickets of top three Tim McIntosh, Martin Guptill and Daniel Flynn plus the crucial scalp of Daniel Vettori.

Asif wrapped up the match by dismissing Iain O'Brien for a career-high 31 in his last Test at his home ground.

The fast bowler finished the match with figures of nine for 107.

It was also a good day for Danish Kaneria, who replaced Saeed Ajmal for this Test. The leg-spinner became the fourth highest Test wicket-taker behind Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Imran Khan.

Yousuf said: "The whole team is very happy and credit must go to the whole team they worked very hard, especially the bowlers.

"I'm pleased with the way Danish Kaneria bowled on this track."

Asif admitted he was enjoying the New Zealand conditions after also taking eight wickets for 151 runs in the series-opening loss in Dunedin.

"I'm enjoying it here. After a long time out it is difficult to bowl like I did but my rhythm is coming and hopefully I can do well in the next game," he said.

"I'm very happy we won this game. The last match was 50-50, it came down to the last hour. But today thankfully we won. We're working hard."

The 26-year-old said while he had obviously studied New Zealand's batsmen on video and worked out their weaknesses there was no magic formula to his success.

He continued: "My belief is to bowl at the stumps and pitch it in the right areas."

One area which needs to improve is the fielding effort after Pakistan wasted six chances in the second innings - dropping five catches and not getting a hand to another Daniel Vettori sent straight to the slip cordon.

Yousuf said: "I think it's very difficult here to sometimes catch the ball because it is moving around and there is a lot of wind.

"But everyone tried hard. No-one is trying to drop catches, everyone is trying to make the catches. It's part of the game we are still working on.

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"Those dropping the catches are worried about why they are dropping them but we'll work hard during the next few days."

New Zealand skipper Vettori was left to lament another poor batting display by his side, particularly the first innings where they failed to reach triple figures.

He explained: "It's pretty simple, it smacks us straight in the face that the first innings batting performance put us in the position we're in.

"The first innings performance is something that can't be explained. You can't apologise for it.

"It was devastating for our bowlers to do so well and then only bat for 36 overs."

He added: "To bowl a team out for roughly 250 in both innings is a fantastic effort but we just couldn't back it up with the bat. That's been our problem for a long time.

"We're searching for ways to address it but we're not getting it right."

Vettori, who is also on the selection panel, hinted changes to the batting line-up were likely for the series decider in Napier.

Opener Tim McIntosh is likely to be one feeling some pressure after scoring four and two, while Peter Fulton (duck and 13) could be another in the firing line.

Vettori added: "In our top six Ross Taylor is the only one stepping up and leading.

"I think a couple of guys are going to come under severe scrutiny. That's only right.

"That's the nature of Test cricket, you get some chances but not many. There are going to be some guys that are probably going to have some tough news."