OPENER Brendon McCullum smashed a career-best 225 to help New Zealand draw the second Test against world number one India today.
McCullum, playing his 54th Test, unleashed 22 fours and four sixes during his nine-hour innings as the tourists declared at their tea score of 448-8 on the fifth and final day of the match at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium.
That left India – who made 472 in their first innings in reply to New Zealand’s 350 – with an improbable target of scoring 327 runs off 30 overs in the final session.
Openers Virender Sehwag (54 not out) and Gautam Gambhir (14 not out) took India to 68-0 when the rival captains agreed to call off the match an hour before the scheduled close.
It was McCullum who stole the day’s show and gave the eighth-ranked Kiwis plenty to cheer about as they head into the series-deciding third and final Test starting in Nagpur on Saturday (November 20).
Named the man of the match, McCullum reached the 200-run mark in style, scooping part-timer Suresh Raina (2-38) for a four and celebrating by raising his bat towards the Kiwi dressing room.
“We are extremely pleased with our batting,” said New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori. “Our top-order came into this match under pressure. But they responded extremely well.
“For Tim (McIntosh) to come out of a pair and score a century on the first day was commendable. He set up the game for us. McCullum played so positively, to score a double hundred in second innings in India is something special.”
Starting the day at 237-4, the visitors needed to bat out the morning session, which they did in remarkable fashion, adding 102 runs without losing a wicket.
McCullum, 29, put on 124 runs for the fifth wicket with rookie batsman Kane Williamson and another 51 with Vettori (23).
Williamson made 69 with nine fours, three of which he struck in one over by paceman Shanthakumaran Sreesanth (3-121) before being trapped leg before wicket by off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.
The 20-year-old middle-order batsman had scored a century on his debut in the drawn first Test in Ahmedabad last week.
Rahul Dravid bagged his 199th catch in Tests when Vettori drove Raina uppishly to short cover.
McCullum, 124 overnight, completely dominated India’s bowlers with his attacking strokeplay before being caught at mid-on as he tried to play a lofted shot off Sreesanth.
His knock was the second-highest by a New Zealander in India, surpassing Bert Sutcliffe’s 230 scored way back in 1955 in Delhi.
India’s spinners struggled on a wicket that showed no signs of deteriorating with Pragyan Ojha (2-137) and Harbhajan (1-117) picking up just three wickets between them.
“Our bowlers did as well as they could on a wicket like this,” said Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. “The wicket offered no assistance to them so I won’t blame my bowlers.
“Sometimes you try too hard to take wickets and spill runs. Also, their batsmen batted very well. They waited for the loose balls and left away the good ones.”
The hosts also missed pace spearhead Zaheer Khan who could send down only three overs due to a groin strain.
