Birmingham came back from two goals down to deny 10-man Sunderland victory on the opening day at the Stadium of Light.
Fit-again Darren Bent opened the scoring for the hosts with a 24th-minute penalty and Stephen Carr's own goal looked to have secured victory for Steve Bruce's side.
But, having lost Lee Cattermole to a second yellow card just before half-time, Sunderland capitulated under a second-half Birmingham barrage.
Scott Dann halved the arrears in the 77th minute and his fellow defender Liam Ridgewell secured a point with a close-range tap in with two minutes to go.
Bruce was sweating on the fitness of Bent after the striker was unavailable for England's friendly against Hungary in midweek.
But the former-Spurs man shook off his back problem to start alongside Frazier Campbell in Sunderland's attack. And it took less than half an hour for the pair to make an impact on the contest.
Following a counter-attack after 24 minutes, Campbell's surging run was halted by Carr on the corner of the area. Replays suggested that the challenge came just outside the box, but referee Taylor pointed to the spot. Bent, who bagged 25 goals in his Sunderland debut season, made no mistake from 12 yards.
Sunderland continued to dominate and Lee Bowyer almost sliced Ahmed Al Muhammadi's low cross into his own net 10 minutes later.
But the tables turned a minute before the interval as Lee Cattermole received his second yellow card for a wild challenge on Bowyer. The tough midfielder had already been booked for an innocuous tug on Cameron Jerome on the half-hour.
Birmingham did start the second half with renewed vigour but their attempted comeback was thwarted on 56 minutes.
Having conceded the first-half penalty, Carr was once again the villain for Birmingham as he sent a looping header into his own net from the edge of the area.
But with 13 minutes remaining, Scott Dann set up a grandstand finish with his first Premier League goal. The defender rose highest at the back post to nod Seb Larsson's centre through the legs of Simon Mignolet in the Sunderland goal.
And the comeback was complete two minutes from time. Again Sunderland failed to deal with a Larsson cross and Ridgewell was on hand to turn the ball home from close range after a goalmouth scramble.