Close New Zealand 53 for 1 trail India 161 (Dravid 76) by 131 runs
Scorecard

India have traditionally reserved their worst batting for the first days of overseas Test matches, and today at the Basin Reserve was no exception. In conditions that were tough enough to test the very best, Rahul Dravid was India's Lone Ranger, batting beautifully even as the rest folded as easily as Origami paper. India were shot out for 161 soon after tea and by the time bad light ended play – 8.1 overs ahead of schedule – New Zealand had progressed to 53 for 1.

Dravid took the fight to New Zealand with some magnificent batting in the afternoon. Though Shane Bond, Daryl Tuffey and Jacob Oram all troubled him in patches, his judgement and shot selection were exemplary. He seldom missed out on the loose balls either, stroking both Bond and Oram though the covers with some ease. And with wickets falling at the other end, he also chanced his arm, deliberating slashing Tuffey over slips twice. He made 73 in just over four hours of classy determination before inside-edging one from Scott Styris onto his stumps (147 for 9).

Both Parthiv Patel and Ajit Agarkar had threatened briefly to stand by the main man but Oram and then Styris put an end to such wishful thinking. Patel made 8 before cutting Oram to Lou Vincent at gully (92 for 6). Agarkar made four more, including a towering straight six off Nathan Astle, before edging Styris to a relieved Astle – who had put two chances down earlier – at second slip (118 for 7) and Harbhajan Singh lasted one ball. India had hopelessly lost their way.

The morning session had been even more torrid, as the ball beat the bat countless times, with positive strokes as rare as droplets of rain in an arid desert. With half a centimetre of grass left unshorn on the pitch, it was no great surprise when Stephen Fleming opted to field first. Starting with a very attacking field, it took New Zealand just 12 balls to break through. Virender Sehwag (2) had absolutely no answer to an indipper from Tuffey that nipped in through a sizeable gap between bat and pad to strike the top of off stump.

With 100 kmph winds buffeting the players, Bond's line and length were frequently awry and he was guilty of giving the batsmen too many balls to leave. Tuffey was on the money though, and he struck again 15 minutes later, getting one to jag back in from just short of length. Sanjay Bangar (1) withdrew his bat and the ball cannoned into his arm guard before flying to Styris at third slip. The New Zealanders were up right away and umpire Asoka de Silva nodded his assent.

Dravid got going with a couple of superb square-drives off Bond and when the new boy Oram came into the attack, Sachin Tendulkar slashed him for a four past point, before uncorking a champagne cover-drive. But that was as good as it got for him. A 50-minute stay at the crease had yielded those 8 runs when he chose to shoulder arms to an Oram delivery that darted back. Though the ball struck him high on the flap of his pad, it wasn't a smart move, a fact illustrated by de Silva, whose finger went up fairly quickly (29 for 3).

Bond came back to bowl a much-improved second spell and a nasty bouncer almost gave New Zealand a fourth wicket. It reared up at Sourav Ganguly who had been peppered with shortballs, flew high off his gloves towards first slip, where Fleming was a bit too slow to react.

But the morning's drama was far from over. Ganguly, a ball after being dropped again, this time by Nathan Astle at second slip, flirted outside the off stump once too often. Another thick edge off Bond flew to gully, where Lou Vincent took an outstanding catch low to his left. Ganguly made 17. It was the same old nightmare for India.

With the bowlers having done the job, Mark Richardson and Vincent rubbed it in with the bat, putting on a steady partnership, before Vincent flicked casually at a Bangar delivery down the legside to be caught behind (30 for 1).

But Fleming and Richardson saw it through to stumps with few hiccups to complete a thoroughly satisfying day for the hosts. As for India, the answers, my friend, were blowin' in the wind, somewhere in the Wellington wind.

Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor of Wisden.com in India.

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