Moments after a penalty corner claim was waved away, the home side got their first and, while the shot from Nic Woods produced an excellent save, the ball was put in the net at the same time as a penalty stroke was awarded, Inglis stepping up to score the equaliser.
More pressure and a series of penalty corners went unconverted and the teams were equal at the break.
Early in the second half, a pin-point through ball to Neal could have seen the New Zealanders take the lead. The Black Sticks survived a two-minute sin binning for Inglis, but moments after he returned a shot was deflected into the net by Joel van Huizen for the Malaysians to retake the lead.
The New Zealanders were guilty of too many wayward passes and looked rusty and unfamiliar with one another, making it difficult to build pressure, but in the final quarter managed to win a series of penalty corners from which their second equaliser came, scored by Cory Bennett after a fine save had prevented Woods scoring his second.
The lead appeared to have been short lived when the Malaysians had the ball in the net a few moments later, only for the goal to be ruled out for an earlier infringement. But the visitors did not have to wait for long to re-establish their lead, Ramadan Rosli firing home with some power.
Goalkeeper Pontifex was withdrawn from the game with just under five minutes to go as the Black Sticks pushed for a third equaliser with an extra outfield player, but the gamble did not pay off.
The game was the 150th for striker Blair Hunter, but it won't be one he remembers fondly, as he spent two minutes in the sin bin during the final quarter.
The two teams have a day off today and resume the series tomorrow with the concluding game scheduled for Thursday, both at the Tauranga Hockey Centre starting at 6pm.
