Napier, March 26: Having taken things lightly, Team India felt the load of two tons as New Zealand made a strong start to the second Test at McLean Park here on Thursday.

Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor stroked a century each to pull the Kiwis out of trouble after searing pace had left them gasping in the first hour of play at 23/3. The two played dream knocks to give India a nightmare as New Zealand rode on a 271-run stand, their best ever for the fourth wicket, to end Day One at an impressive 351/4. Virender Sehwag, who led the side in the absence of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, ruled out of the match because of a bad back, learnt that captaincy is a different ball-game as nothing worked for him after the initial burst. The fielders dropped dollies to demoralise the bowlers even as the batsmen rubbed it in with hits that frequently raced to the boundary.

Having got three quick wickets, the Indians seemed in a zone. It appeared that they would soon roll the opposition over but hit massive roadblocks in the form of the burly Ryder (137 batting, 342 minutes, 17x4, 1x6) and tenacious Taylor (151, 262 minutes, 26x4, 1x6).

Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma bowled beautifully to begin with though the latter was lucky to get a wicket — opener Tim McIntosh adjudged caught behind even as his bat had stayed clear of the ball.

Jamie How played at a Zaheer delivery and did not know how it got past him on to his stumps while Martin Guptill tried to fend off a snorter from Zaheer Khan and Sehwag dived full length forward to grab the ball that had bobbed up after hitting the splice of the bat.

That was the beginning of the Ryder-Taylor tango. The Kiwi batsmen danced circles around the Indian bowlers as they went about the rescue act confidently.

The dauntless duo was helped by the butter-fingered fielders for good measure. Taylor was let off by Yuvraj Singh, who couldn’t grab a low chance at third slip off Munaf Patel when the batsman was on four while Ryder, on 32, was lucky to get away with an edge off Harbhajan Singh which sailed between wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik and Rahul Dravid at first slip.

That was it. Taylor thereafter turned the heat on.

At the other end, Ryder got into the groove by punching Zaheer Khan through the cover and then cutting him again to the boundary. Encouraged by the rampaging Ryder, Taylor too began to connect the ball well, a screaming boundary straight down the ground and a thumped one to the cover fence off Ishant Sharma.

Sehwag tried to bring in variation by bowling off-spin but Taylor promptly drove him to the mid-off fence to bring up the 150-run partnership. Ryder joined the party by sweeping the Indian skipper for a soaring six over square leg as the Indian shoulders slumped.

Taylor survived some anxious moments on 99 though — he played Zaheer on to his pads; next ball, saw an edge drop short of Dravid at first slip and then survived a confident shout for LBW against Harbhajan Singh.

However, he got into the three figures with an edged boundary that slipped past gully. He celebrated the feat with a sharp cut and another edge that darted to the boundary.

Soon, Ryder sneaked into the 90s before bringing up his second successive century in style, smashing Zaheer Khan to the cover boundary. He held his nerve after the ton though, and had put on 57 runs for the unfinished fifth wicket stand with James Franklin when stumps were drawn for the day.