The Blackcaps have been handed an embarrassing defeat by the UAE, falling to a seven-wicket defeat at Dubai.
After mustering just 142/8 batting first, New Zealand saw their total walked down with more than four overs to spare, as the hosts sealed their maiden international victory at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
The loss will be hard to take for a second-string Blackcaps side, who have opted to rest most of their senior players for the upcoming tour of England.
All up, the UAE playing XI have notched 149 T20 international appearances, just 40 more than NZ captain Tim Southee has on his own.
Defeat was the Blackcaps' first against a non-test nation in 39 games across all three formats and their first against the UAE, regardless of format.
"That's the beauty of sport," said Southee. "A lot of credit has to go to the UAE team - they outplayed us in all three facets.
"We know, in T20 cricket, if you turn up on your day, anything can happen.
"We probably didn't learn enough from the other day, we made a few mistakes similar to the other day and we were made to pay for that."
The UAE's victory squares the series at 1-1 and gives the Blackcaps little time to go back to the drawingboard, before the Monday morning (NZ time) decider.
After losing the toss and being asked to bat first, the Blackcaps struggled to put together a defendable total for a UAE side that ran them close in the series-opener on Friday.
Mark Chapman (63 off 46) was the only batter to pass 30 and his 53-run partnership with Jimmy Neesham (21) the only stand of note in the New Zealand innings.
With the ball, 17-year-old spinner Aayan Afzal Khan did the damage for UAE, taking 3/20 from his four over spell.
Chasing 143 for victory, the home side again lost a wicket in the opening over, when Southee snared game one hero Aryansh Sharma for a third-ball duck.
After missing out in game one, UAE captain Muhammad Waseem hammered a 27-ball half-century, as part of partnerships worth 40 with Vriitya Aravind (25) and 56 with Asif Khan (13).
Once Waseem fell - caught by Southee, off Mitchell Santner's bowling at 96/3 - UAE found a hero in Khan, who guided his side home with an unbeaten 48, with 26 balls to spare.
Blackcaps 142/8 (Chapman 63; Aayan 3/20) UAE 144/3 (Waseem 55, Khan 48 not out; Santner 1/26)
UAE win by seven wickets
