The rival captains expressed their relief and disappointment after the final session of a potential cliffhanger was ruined by persistent showers.
New Zealand was 118 short of winning the test and series when play was abandoned with 24 overs remaining.
It had to maintain a reasonable run-rate of 4.91, with all 10 wickets intact.
Yousuf acknowledged Pakistan was fortunate.
"We were lucky. Allah helped us, because of rain. It would be difficult to defend [208] on this track.
"It's disappointing for them, not for us. We are lucky," he said.
Vettori agreed.
"We were denied an opportunity this afternoon, so we look back on that with a bit of disappointment," he said.
Play was abandoned at 6.34pm, leaving New Zealand's well-paced pursuit 118 runs short and the series shared at 1-1.
Playing their first test together as a combination, Watling and McIntosh had New Zealand's first 100-stand by an opening pair in 43 tests in their sights when they retreated to the sheds at 5.34pm.
Stephen Fleming and Mark Richardson were the last duo to lead off with three figures, 163 against England at Trent Bridge in 2004.
Watling at least had the satisfaction of recording a half-century on test debut.
He balanced McIntosh's patient 23 from 54 balls by cracking 60 off 62 deliveries, studded with one six and nine fours.
After Martin Guptill's magic arm struck, with the second ball of his fourth spell, to end Pakistan's second innings in the second session, New Zealand was the only realistic winner, once Watling got into gear.
Tail-ender Mohammad Asif became Guptill's third victim as he recorded figures of three for 37, the best analysis from a Pakistan innings that spanned 193.2 overs.
Pakistan resumed yesterday on 347 for four, an overall lead of 99, and reliant on Umar Akmal and elder brother Kamran.
Umar had a reprieve on the second ball of the day, when he edged Chris Martin past wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum and first slip Ross Taylor, to advance from 48 to the third half-century of his debut series.
The 19-year-old was eventually dismissed for 77, caught by McCullum, and ended as the series' leading run-scorer with 379, at an average of 63.16.
Pakistan had the leading wicket-taker, Mohammad Asif finishing with 19 at 19.78 and dominated an unwanted statistic by dropping 17 catches.
McCullum set a record for New Zealand wicketkeeping dismissals, his eight catches and one stumping eclipsing the previous record of eight dismissals jointly held by Warren Lees and Ian Smith, against Sri Lanka in 1982-83 and 1990-91 respectively.
Retirement-bound paceman Iain O'Brien had a match analysis of six for 143 to give him 15 wickets for the series, New Zealand's most successful bowler.
He ended his 22-test career with 73 wickets at 33.27.
