Napier, March 30: V.V.S. Laxman delivered what he promised — something special — as he stroked an unbeaten century to hold up one end and frustrate New Zealand in the process of stealing a draw for the visitors in the second Test at McLean Park here on Monday.

Resuming at their overnight score of 252/2, India lost just two more wickets to reach 476/4, 162 runs ahead of the Kiwi first innings total of 619/9 declared before both teams agreed to a draw 46 minutes after tea.

That meant India maintained their 1-0 lead going into the third and final Test beginning in Wellington on April 3.

It was a tough grind for the Kiwis, who had spent over 18 hours in the field after enforcing the follow-on on the second day. Needless to say, they were sapped of strength.

The shrewd Indians took the opportunity to begin preparations for the third Test via some mind games. Dhoni and his men were back on the field after the match, playing a game of football right in front of the opposition dressing room to display their high levels of energy reserves and rub it into the Kiwis. The players were noisy, like children, and peppered the game with cacophonic cheers and wild hoots as they played vigorously.

Day Five belonged to India, even though the Kiwis drew first blood by snapping up Sachin Tendulkar in the fifth over of the day. The Mumbai batsman chased a Chris Martin delivery outside off but only managed to snick it to wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum behind the stumps to end his 97-run partnership for the third wicket with overnight centurion Gautam Gambhir.

After that it was torture for the hosts. Gambhir carried on from where he left off on Sunday and piled the agony on the rivals with his dogged defence. However, having soldiered on for 10 hours and 42 minutes for his 137, the Delhi batsman departed trapped leg before wicket by off-spinner Jeetan Patel after lunch. By then, he had put on 96 runs for the fourth wicket and killed over three hours in the company of Laxman to leave India in safe territory.

The marathon man survived a chance though on 125 as Iain O’Brien dropped a dolly at mid-on off Daniel Vettori.

Laxman collected runs comfortably. The Hyderabadi was all style as he slammed James Franklin for two boundaries and then deftly guided Martin through the vacant third slip and gully regions for another one to step up the scoring rate.

Going into the tea break with his individual score reading 77, Laxman came out firing. He got all his runs in boundaries to bring up his 14th Test century. A couple of pulls were followed by a punch down the covers for his sixth boundary of the session that signalled his hundred and evoked rare expressions of gratitude from the dressing room.

Laxman had done it once again when the chips were down. This century was highly authoritative as 100 of his 124 runs came off boundaries.

Yuvraj started a bit shakily, missing a few balls, but soon got into his groove to unleash a straight drive to the fence and then smashed Martin over the square leg for another boundary. The scintillating strokeplay continued, from both ends, and boundaries flowed until Yuvraj top edged Vettori for a brace to bring up his half-century and relish being back among runs.