Hundreds from skipper Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson propelled New Zealand into a driver’s seat at the end of Day 1 in the first Test against India in Auckland.
The Kiwis, who were sent in to bat at Eden Park by India’s captain MS Dhoni, amassed 4/329 at stumps on the opening day.
New Zealand’s skipper Brendon McCullum was 143 not out, while Corey Anderson was 42 not out at the close of play.
Kane Williamson scored 113 before he was caught behind off Zaheer Khan’s bowling while trying to leg-glance a delivery which was on the pads.
However, it was not all smooth sailing for the hosts because at one stage, when Williamson and McCullum came together, the Black Caps were struggling at 3/30 after being inserted by Indian skipper as McCullum lost his sixth toss in a row. But, McCullum more than made for it when he joined Williamson in a 221-run partnership for the fourth wicket that swung the momentum around in New Zealand’s favour.
After surviving until lunch on a green-tinged pitch, they lifted the scoring rate, as cloud cover gave way to sunshine and pitch appeared to settle down into aa good batting wicket.
McCullum mixed-up caution with aggression, as he brought up his eighth Test century by lofting spinner Ravindra Jadeja for a six over long-off.
Williamson got to his fifth Test ton 10 balls later with a nice cover drive of the same bowler. His innings continues his excellent run of form against the visitors, against whom he five half-centuries in each of the five one-dayers.
Williamson, though, had a let-off on 32, edging a Mohammed Shami delivery to first slip, where Murali Vijay spilled a knee-high catch. It was not the only dropped catch of the day as India’s slip catching let its bowlers down.
Williamson and his skipper took full advantage of India’s poor fielding as the duo added 125 during the middle session.
Williamson hooked a Shami delivery for six to bring up the New Zealand hundred. He again cleared the rope to reach his 50, top-edging a bouncer from Khan over the short fine-leg boundary.
Earlier, India skipper MS Dhoni, who won all five tosses against McCullum in the one-day series, continued that run as the two-Test series began.
Dhoni’s decision to bowl was rewarded early by his bowlers with openers Hamish Rutherford (6) and Peter Fulton (13), and danger man Ross Taylor (3) all dismissed cheaply.
During the morning session, which was cold and windy, Ishant Sharma claimed two of the three wickets to fall. He was the pick of the Indian bowlers, ending the day with 2/62, while Khan had 2/98.
