Napier, March 29: Gautam Gambhir hogged the limelight with a calculated century that put spirited knocks by Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid in the shade on a sunny Sunday as India clawed back into the second Test at the McLean Park here.

Following on, the visitors ended the fourth day at 252/2, and need 62 runs with eight wickets in hand to make the hosts bat again. With Gambhir undefeated, and Sachin Tendulkar (58) for company, India appear on course to save the Test unless they are hit by a bout of madness like the one on Saturday.

Gambhir dished out superb skills and controlled aggression to notch up 102, his fifth century in 24 Tests. Having come at a time when India were in trouble, and being only his second overseas — the first was against Bangladesh in Chittagong — the ton should rank high up there on the list of the gutsy performer.

The Indian opener was a picture of concentration as he dropped anchor to hang in there all day and shore up the visitors, whose boat appeared to be sinking overnight. He has so far batted over seven hours and has faced 290 balls, no mean task.

Gambhir survived some anxious moments in the first session. A full throated shout for leg before wicket and a semi-celebration for a bat-pad chance off Jeetan Patel were a bit jittery but home umpire Evan Watkin did well to come up with good decisions on both occasions.

However, the 27-year-old shook the tension off and began to jump out of the crease and blast the ball over the infield. The second consecutive such shot that raced to the boundary brought up his half-century. Gambhir then retracted into his shell.

At the other end, Dravid displayed dogged determination and adopted a safety first approach so much so that the scoring slowed down during the first session — at a time, only 8 runs came off 10 overs. But that was soon reversed by Dravid, who smashed a couple of boundaries — an ondrive and a backfoot punch through the covers — off Vettori. He then played paceman James Franklin to the on-side for a brace that signalled his second half-century of the match. It was a superb effort from the seasoned campaigner who readjusted his game to kill time in the middle. Having hit six fours and a six, he consumed 213 balls for the remaining 32 runs.

However, Dravid (62) fell victim to umpire Ian Gould’s misjudgement 27 minutes before tea. Replays showed the ball had brushed his pad before lobbing to Jamie How at forward short-leg off Daniel Vettori.

Gambhir was cautious as well. The Delhi batsman got stuck on 83 for 32 balls before taking a single off Chris Martin.

He may have got out thrice in the 90s in his career but this time around, Gambhir displayed no nerves. He danced down the track to loft Vettori over mid-on for a boundary and raised a fist to celebrate the three-figure mark.

Gambhir had earlier completed 2,000 runs in Tests while on 56.

Towards the end of the day, it was a good contest between Sachin Tendulkar and pace bowler Iain O’Brien, who often beat the legend. However, the Master replied with strokes of authority, a backfoot punch through covers and a ferocious flick that darted to the square leg boundary being the best.

O’Brien sent down one past the Mumbai batsman’s nose as the batsman tried to stay away from the line of the bouncer. Next, he played defensively at a high ball and had to quickly use his foot to stop the ball from rolling over on to his stumps. Tendulkar’s answer was typical, a hook that sailed over fine leg for a six next ball, clear indication of who was calling the shots on the day.