Napier, March 30: Having missed out on a chance to level the series in the second Test, New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori blamed the pitch and said the strip was not quite cut out for Test cricket.

"You could bat on this wicket for another five or six days if you wanted to. We had a lot of discussion with the umpires and the match referee about the wicket and it was too good for a Test wicket," Vettori said after the game. Excerpts:

On the wicket: On most good Test wickets you get a bit of variable bounce, some inconsistency as the wicket tends to wear away and become difficult for batting. You could bat on this wicket for another five or six days if you wanted to. It was just a supremely great deck for batting on for long periods of time.

Everyone wants to see a wicket deteriorate and the spinners come into play with some inconsistent bounce. You want batting to become a bit more difficult as the Test match goes on. Batting conditions were even throughout this Test match. At no stage did we think this wicket's getting tough.

On the match: I am obviously disappointed not to get the win but am pleased with the performance. Everything we asked about our ability to hang in there for longer with the bat and put together a performance with the ball that was consistent all the way through. We were dominant through. After the performance in Hamilton it was very pleasing to bounce back the way we did.

On team strategy: We needed a couple of early wickets and I suppose when we got Gambhir and the third new ball came along there was another opportunity but Yuvraj and Laxman saw India through that period and once it was gone it was probably out of our reach.

On when they sniffed a chance: Particularly after getting Tendulkar out. He looked the most comfortable of the Indian batsmen and played some shots and put us back under pressure whereas the other Indian batsmen looked to defend and soak up time. When Tendulkar was dismissed there was a good spirit in the team but I suppose the wicket got the better of us in the end.

On Gambhir: He did what India required of him - batted for long periods of time - to save the Test match. You couldn't really ask for too much more from him.

On enforcing the follow-on: You always think about that but the situation was that we had rolled them pretty quickly and had 17 overs to put them under a lot of pressure and I wanted to run with that.

We got the crucial wicket of Sehwag but from then on India batted resolutely throughout the next two days. I have no regrets with the decision.