For the first time in the history of Test cricket, either side failed to cross the hundred-run mark in the first innings, as India set New Zealand a target of 160 to win the Hamilton Test.

At stumps on the third day, which saw 22 wickets fall, New Zealand were 24-0, requiring another 136 runs to make a clean sweep of the two-Test series.

Resuming at 92-8, India's innings lasted all of seven deliveries, as Parthiv Patel and Ashish Nehra were sent packing with just seven runs being added.

Tinu Yohannan, who replaced Ajit Agarkar for the Test, was too predictable angling the ball across the Kiwi batsmen, who left it alone.

Zaheer Khan set up Lou Vincent's dismissal by swinging a couple of deliveries in to him and then angling one across, inducing an edge that flew straight to Rahul Dravid at first slip.

Zaheer struck again. Noticing Mark Richardson's tactic to leave anything outside the off-stump, the left-armer shifted his line a tad closer and rapped the left-handed opener on his pads bang in front of the stumps.

Nehra -- in danger of losing his place in the team -- earned his ticket for the one-day series after a double strike in a single over. Swapping ends after bowling an expensive opening spell, the left-arm swinger had Craig McMillan shaping for a drive without getting into the line of the delivery. The ball kissed the edge and sailed into the slips for Dravid to take his second catch of the innings.

Kiwi's best bat, Nathan Astle, survived a leg-before appeal off the first ball. But soon he slashed Nehra straight to Harbhajan Singh at point for a duck. The Indian total of 99 suddenly looked respectable.

These days Fleming seems to be taking his 'tough skipper' act a little too far. Increasingly he is sounding like his Aussie counterpart Steve Waugh. But the Kiwi should realise that Waugh can afford to talk like he does because he commands a group that will go down in history as one of the finest ever to grace a cricket field.

"You've got to show commitment on such a wicket. It's all about getting behind the ball and doing some real hard yards. There will be some balls, which will have your name on it. But in between you've got to work very hard," he had said at the end of the second day, when India were 92-8.

At lunch, with four wickets down and 39 runs short of the Indian total, the hosts were rattled. What was that thing about glasshouses?

Prior to the series Fleming had announced that he would return to his free-scoring ways. In the first over after lunch, he failed to read the away movement and tried to play the ball through mid-wicket. Two balls later, the movement defeated him and he patted the ball straight back to the bowler (60-5).

Ganguly maintained pressure from the two ends, bowling Zaheer and Harbhajan. Jacob Oram, who had a remarkable entry into Test cricket with the ball, disappointed with the bat. A few minutes at the crease, he danced down the wicket to Harbhajan and was snapped up at mid-off.

With the wicket not providing easy runs, the accuracy of Zaheer and the windmill action of Harbhajan made matters worse for the Kiwis.

Scott Styris, whose understanding of spin bowling is as little as Sehwag's patience, was trapped in front trying to slog-sweep Harbhajan without reading the turn. Zaheer wrapped up the Kiwi innings with another two wickets to claim his second five-wicket haul of the series. The last five wickets fell for only 34 runs.

New Zealand were bundled out for 94 in 38.2 overs, exactly the same number of overs that India batted in their first innings. With a slender five run lead, the Indians had salvaged more than just their dented pride. For the first time in the series, the Kiwis were spooked by the Indian reprisal.

India now needed to raise their game in order to set the Kiwis a decent target.

The Indian think-tank made a rather debatable move sending in Patel ahead of Sehwag to open with Sanjay Bangar. It was bizarre to have asked a 17-year-old to do the job of a senior.

In the second over, Tuffey, with his exaggerated bounce, pierced through the defences of the diminutive Patel for a duck. Three overs later he fooled Bangar with a slower delivery, which was punched back to the bowler.

Things seemed to crash after India's success on the field. The Sachin Tendulkar-Rahul Dravid partnership held the key to India's fortunes. If they could stay together and mesh a partnership, India could set Kiwis a target of 175 plus.

At tea, Dravid and Tendulkar added 32 runs to take India to 40-2.

Tendulkar then batted fantastically, pulling and driving the bowlers to distraction. Dravid, in his usual style, played a game of quiet endurance.

Tuffey turned the game once again when Tendulkar dragged a delivery onto his stumps for 32. It was the third time in the series that he got out in such a fashion.

Ganguly wrapped up his wretched Test series with another swish outside off. Absolutely at sea against the Kiwi seamers, Ganguly will need to sort out his shortcoming against the rising delivery -- something that he had coped with in the Caribbean earlier this year.

V V S Laxman pottered around for a four before part-time seamer Nathan Astle had him playing down the wrong line. At 85-5, the Kiwis had bounced right back into the game.

If only they could snap up Sehwag and prevent him from playing a flier, the match could have been in their bag. But that was not to be as Sehwag walked out, took his guard and began smashing the ball around the park.

A perturbed Fleming set a defensive field as Sehwag drove with impetuosity. In no time the lead had crossed the three-figure mark and it seemed that the idea to pull Sehwag down the order had worked.

But Sehwag soon got out, playing straight to Tuffey at silly mid-off. During his 18-ball stay, during which he made 25, Dravid did not score a single run, such was his dominance -- short lived yet effective.

Harbhajan's advent to the crease added a genuine note of comedy to the proceedings. With his typical copybook defying strokes, he added some important runs to the total, as Dravid's compass failed him and he played a ball straight to the fielder at point.

The Indian tail got some quick runs and Nehra swung some lusty blows to take the lead past the 150-run mark. When the last Indian wicket fell, New Zealand were looking at a target of 160.