British bookmakers William Hill had made Zenit overwhelming favorites for the match, offering odds of 12/1 for a BATE victory. Zenit were 1/4 to claim all three points.
Zenit had narrowly lost their first two Champions League Group H matches, going down 1-0 to Juventus in Turin and 2-1 to Real Madrid in St. Petersburg. Although they were widely considered to have been worth a point in each tie, the defeats left the Russian champions bottom of the group.
The first half of the match saw Zenit pressure the Belarus champions, with two of their foreign stars, Turkish striker Fatih Tekke and Portuguese midfielder Danny hitting the post and the bar, respectively.
Despite their pressure, the Russian club was unable to find the net, and could well have fallen behind in the 20th minute, Igor Stasevich hitting the post for BATE.
In the event, BATE took a shock lead in the 52nd minute, Pavel Nekhaychik taking advantage of some trademark slack Zenit defending to poke the ball home. The Belarusian sub had only been only pitch for seven minutes when he gave his side the lead.
Zenit hit back, but were unable to level until the 80th minute, when Tekke hammered home after being left free in the box by the BATE defense.
A winner was vital for Zenit, and they piled forward, but never came seriously close to scoring the winner.
The draw means that Zenit will have to win their next three fixtures, away to BATE, home to Juventus, and away to Real Madrid to have a chance of making the play off stages.
Zenit travel to Belarus on November 5. In Group H's other match on Tuesday, Juventus were set to host Real Madrid.
The first two teams go through to the play-offs. The third side drops down into the UEFA Cup.
Group H
Real Madrid - 6 (after two games)
Juventus - 4 (two games)
BATE Borisov - 2 (three games)
Zenit St. Petersburg - 1 (three games)
