The banner of two Indian fans on the McLean Park embankment said it all: "Day belongs to NZ".
Former Black Cap Mark Greatbatch told SportToday that's because century-makers Ross Taylor and Jesse Ryder were positive and selective.
Taylor agreed: "I don't think there was any other secret but hitting straight and putting
the loose balls away.
"I think we just tried to respect the good ball and ... it worked out in patches."
He reckoned the Indians went "a little bit quiet" on the field but came back well after breaks, thus the ebb-and-flow manner of their record-breaking start to the second test yesterday.
Compounding the tourists' problem was the withdrawal of captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni due to back spasms on Wednesday night.
While wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik showed some agility and reflexes he didn't make the catches behind the stumps when it mattered.
Taylor and unbeaten No 6 batsman James Franklin should add Yuvraj Singh to their Christmas card lists after the Indian dropped Taylor at third slip on four runs in the morning and then emulated that in the afternoon by dropping Franklin on 7 runs in the same fielding position.
The specialist third slip position traditionally belongs to Sachin Tendulkar but he is nursing an injured finger. Singh is more comfortable at point.
Stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag (pictured right) saluted Taylor and Ryder but enigmatically defended the bowling and fielding, saying it was difficult to set a field to the streaky nature of some shots.
"I think it's a good track to bat on and there's nothing for the bowlers so, hopefully, we'll do well in our batting time.
"Sometimes you take catches and sometimes you drop them. That happens in test matches but we'll have to improve our fielding, especially with catching."
First test destroyer and spinner Harbhajan Singh was the pick of bowlers on a bouncy pitch Sehwag felt did nothing for fast bowlers.
Indian media wallahs, who clapped and cheered on the Caps batsmen, shook their heads in disbelief at the number of misfields, which included a few bloopers from Rahul Dravid.
"Franklin will also go on to make a hundred," one quipped.
Sehwag felt if Taylor's catch and a few others had stuck it would have been more like five or six wickets at stumps.
