Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar were building up India's strong reply with unbeaten half-centuries in the series-deciding third and final Test against New Zealand on Sunday.
The veteran batsmen took the innings on following the dismissal of openers Gautam Gambhir (78) and Virender Sehwag (74) to bring India to 292-2 at stumps on the second day of the match at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium.
India were ahead by 99 runs with eight wickets in hand, having bundled out the visitors for 193 early in the morning session.
Tendulkar survived some hostile bowling from New Zealand's quicks to play some breathtaking shots on either side of the wicket. He had so far hit seven boundaries in his 57-run knock off 126 balls. Dravid played in typically sedate fashion, making 69 with the help of eight fours during his four-hour innings.
He added 79 runs with Gambhir for the second wicket and another 100 for the next with Tendulkar, who brought up his first half-century of the series and 59th of his career to delight the home crowd.
"We are a little down at the moment," said New Zealand paceman Tim Southee. "We did not score enough runs in the first innings. They had some good partnerships going.
"Hopefully we can take a couple of quick wickets tomorrow (Monday) morning and bounce back into the game." The Indians got off to a flying start in their first innings, thanks to an entertaining knock by Sehwag.
The opener clubbed Southee (1-41) for two successive fours and hoisted left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori over long-on for a huge six en route to his 26th Test half-century. He hit Vettori (1-101) again for three fours in a row but ended up offering a tame return catch to the Kiwi captain early in the afternoon session.
"It is always easy when Sehwag is batting at the other end," said Gambhir. "He is an impact player and attacks the opposition from the world go. He plays in the same fashion in all the three formats of the game. "We are disappointed that neither of us could go on to make a century despite getting good starts. But we are happy with the overall effort of our team."
Gambhir opened up after a cautious start to hit 12 fours during his 127-ball innings, which was cut short when he slashed Southee to Ross Taylor in the slips. Earlier, paceman Ishant Sharma (4-43) picked up two quick wickets before left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha (3-57) removed last-man Southee to wrap up New Zealand's first innings in less than 11 overs. Southee hit three sixes, two of those in an over by off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, in his cameo 38-run knock.
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