This is New Zealand's 300th Test, and the national cricket board laid on a Family Fun Day at the Basin Reserve to celebrate. Everyone did their bit. The city's youth piled in to take advantage of the free entry for under-18s. Gavin Larsen, once a card-carrying member of the Dibbly, Dobbly, Wobbly triumvirate, now invited allcomers to bowl to him at lunch (and was promptly skittled).

India joined in, and contributed to the holiday atmosphere with another display of beach-cricket batting: all out in two-and-three-quarter hours, with time to spare for an afternoon swim and a barbie.

Perhaps India were trying to complete the job which had been started by two men who broke into the ground on Thursday night and burnt a two-metre-high "NO WA" in petrol on the outfield. The anti-war demonstrators were caught mid-graffiti, but the spirit of pacifism was clearly spreading, and the Indians waved the white flag without so much as a squeak.

Only Sachin Tendulkar put up a fight, and even he was lucky to reach double figures after being bowled by a Shane Bond no-ball that would have remained uncalled by a less trigger-happy umpire than Asoka de Silva.

The press-box reverberated to the crackle of gallows humour, and for once the target wasn't England. "How did these guys beat Australia?" asked one journalist.

"Mukhesh Gupta," replied another.

But with Niranjan Virk, the former police officer who is now a security manager in the ICC's Anti-Corruption Unit, stalking the premises, there was no question of match-fixing.

The crowd were less cynical. On the grassy banks packed with short-sleeved spectators reclining in the sun, the little pockets of Indian support cheered until the bitter end. They may not be constantly reminding you "Who we are" and "Where we come from", but there is something of the Barmy Army's wilful optimism in the Indian psyche, particularly when their side is playing overseas.

Even so, there were moments when you wondered whether the glass wasn't in fact three-quarters empty. The first came during a piercing spell from Bond just before lunch when he whipped the cream of India's batting and even suggested that there might – just occasionally – be a gap between Rahul Dravid's bat and pad.

The second came when Jacob Oram, no more than a bustling seamer, found himself bowling to a field of six slips, possibly for the first time in his career. It was like watching Australia.

The home fans didn't quite know what to make of it. There was a prize on offer for the Most Passionate Kiwi Supporter, but there wasn't really enough time for passion to bloom. By the time the Indian innings came to a close at 3.20pm, many of the supporters were still in a post-prandial booze-induced slumber. This was cricket in fast-forward and no one seemed prepared.

India were shellshocked. "Bad habits are like soft beds," lamented Navjot Sidhu, resplendent in his lilac turban, and fast becoming a legend in these parts with his tortured commentary. "Easy to get into, hard to get out of."

But bed was precisely where Sourav Ganguly and John Wright looked like they'd rather be when they confronted the press.

"We just did not bat well," explained Ganguly, and fiddled nervously with a dictaphone before burying his head in his hands. "We've been beaten fair and square," concluded Wright in his soft New Zealand burr.

As two young boys in 1970s-style beige Kiwi tops produced a sofa – apparently from thin air – and basked on the banks in the late-afternoon sun, two cricketers got in some practice out in the middle. Was it VVS Laxman, who had made a pair? Or Ajit Agarkar, who had bowled like a drain? No, it was Craig McMillan, who had barely had a bat, and Daniel Vettori, who didn't bowl a single delivery. Not everyone appreciates a three-day finish.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd