Despite the play following a predictable course with the bowlers dominating and the batsmen groping in the dark, the script had to be altered a bit. It was not spin which proved fatal for the Kiwis, not altogether. The man to make the most impression was a fast bowler, the only one India had chosen to play for them Javagal Srinath. The Indians, so sure about what the wicket had to offer and not in a mood to drop VijayBharadwaj, rested Venkatesh Prasad to accommodate off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.

The first breakthrough came from Saurav Ganguly, who was partnering Srinath presumably to wipe the shine off the ball so that the spinners wouldn't have to use a new ball. Matt Horne's indecisive forward push to a ball which did little off the wicket in a way typified the New Zealand attitude to the task ahead: defensive, tentative and negative. His dismissal also set the tone and the tenor of the match: The Indians were in the hunt.

But it was a strange kind of hunt where a fast bowler was bowling with his tail up, yet he had the support of just two slip fielders encouraging him. The reasons behind this strategy were not difficult to fathom. The possibility of an edge flying to slips was very remote as the ball, even in the first session of play, was barely bouncing knee-high.

Under these conditions, Srinath used his mind more than his muscle power keeping the ball up and seaming the ball both ways to end the day's playwith three wickets and more importantly ensnared New Zealand's man in real form, Fleming, early in the innings. It was a shock from which the visitors were always going to find hard to recover.

With Srinath enacting his role so well, the three and a half spinners India had must have become an embarrassment of riches for Tendulkar. The three frontline spinners were rotated frequently by the captain, with Sunil Joshi getting the maximum turn even if it was slow, and Anil Kumble getting the maximum bowling to do. Kumble didn't bowl badly but there wasn't much bounce in the wicket to help him trouble the batsmen.

The New Zealanders, when they look back at the day's play, will realise that there wasn't so much venom in the wicket to merit the loss of so many wickets. Astle, McMillan, Parore all perished when well set. Chris Cairns showed how to play the waiting game and how to counter-attack in these conditions as he took charge of the New Zealand batting when his team had lost half the side for 130 runs. Byhis relaxed and positive approach, Cairns has kept the New Zealanders afloat.

The battle moves on to the second day, with the Indians probably not too displeased at what they have achieved on Day One. They have, at least for the time being, nullified the disadvantage of having to bat last here. But if Cairns and Co add another 75-odd runs in the morning, it could still spell trouble.

SCOREBOARD

New Zealand (1st innings)

M Horne c Prasad b Ganguly (11b, 15m, 1x4) 5
M Bell lbw Srinath (79b, 114m, 2x4) 15
C Spearman c Ramesh b Kumble (34b, 42m, 2x4) 12
S Fleming b Srinath (25b, 35m) 2
N Astle lbw Srinath (85b, 117m, 5x4) 39
C McMillan c Ramesh b Joshi (66b, 78m, 4x4) 34
A Parore c Dravid b Kumble (81b, 87m, 7x4) 35
C Cairns batting (108b, 145m, 5x4, 2x6) 42
D Nash batting (61b, 77m, 2x4) 19
Extras: (b4, nb10) 14
Total: (for 7 wkts) 217 in 90 overs) 217
Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Horne), 2-33 (Spearman), 3-40 (Fleming), 4-50 (Bell), 5-112(McMillan), 6-130 (Astle), 7-172 (Parore)
Bowling: Srinath 18-7-44-3, Ganguly 4-0-15-1, Kumble 30-10-66-2, Harbhajan Singh 16-5-30-0, Joshi 20-7-46-1, Bharadwaj 2-0-12-0.