Nash was unbeaten with 56 while Vettori produced an undefeated to take the Kiwis to 290-7 at the close.

The pair had to negotiate the second new ball and a fair number of short-pitched balls by Javagal Srinath, who had bowled strongly for little reward.

The second ball, rather than keep the initiative with India, helped Nash and Vettori accelerate the scoring. The 81 runs they put on in the last session came off 22 overs.

New Zealand coach Steve Rixon was delighted with the Nash-Vettori partnership.

"A lead of 150 would be ideal, but we'll be happy with what we get and we certainly won't try and grind out runs. We will play positively," he said.

Nash and Vettori provided a second large swing of the pendulum during the day. In the two hours before lunch and tea, India, who were bowled out for 208, had taken four wickets to get on even terms.

Three of these wickets fell in the space of 10 overs and 17 runs, reducing New Zealand from 132-3 at lunch to 179-6.

During this critical period, New Zealand's innings was held together by a fighting stand of 56 by Nathan Astle, who stayed in for 198 minutes and faced 135 balls.

Anil Kumble, who bowled tirelessly and accurately on a pitch which gave him little assistance other than bounce, prised him out in the penultimate over before tea, spinning a googly through the gap between bat and pad.

The scores were then level and it was at this point that Nash and Vettori came together and made the most of bowling that was tired.

"Nash has worked on his on-side shots for the last year and he enjoyed using his new toy," Rixon said.

New Zealand had started the day at 52-1 and in the morning, nightwatchmen Matthew Horne and Stephen Fleming and then Astle had worked diligently to give the innings a solid foundation.

While Horne and Astle played with circumspection, Fleming was fluent and was asserting himself when he was run out for 42, made off 96 balls.

India twice dropped Horne and while the misses did not cost too many runs, the length of time he spent at the wicket subjected the Indians to extra toil which, considering their limited bowling resources, was damaging. Venkatesh Prasad was the bowler to suffer in both instances. The first Test in Dunedin was abandoned without a ball being bowled.

Scorecard

India first innings
N S B Sidhu c Fleming b Doull 0
A Jadeja lbw b Doull 10
R Dravid lbw b Doull 0
S C Ganguly c Parore b Doull 5
S R Tendulkar c Bell b Doull 47
M Azharuddin not out 103
N R Mongia c Astle b Doull 0
A Kumble c McMillan b Doull 11
J Srinath c Fleming b Nash 7
B K V Prasad c Fleming b Vettori 15
H Singh c Astle b McMillan 1
Extras 9
Total 208 all out

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-2, 3-15, 4-16, 5-99, 6-99, 7-132, 8-149, 9-207, 10-208.

Bowling: Doull 24-7-65-7, Cairns 17-3-69-0 (2nb), Nash 14-1-46-1 (4nb), Vettori 7-0-20-1, Astle 2-0-5-0, McMillan 1.4-1-0-1.

New Zealand first innings
M D Bell c Mongia b Prasad 4
M J Horne b Kumble 38
S P Fleming run out 42
N J Astle b Kumble 56
C D McMillan c Dravid b Srinath 24
A C Parore lbw b Kumble 2
C L Cairns c Tendulkar b Prasad 3
D J Nash not out 56
D L Vettori not out 35
Extras 30
Total 290 for seven wickets

Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-79, 3-112, 4-162, 5-172, 6-179, 7-208.