Summary India can still claim to hold the advantage with four sessions remaining and trailing by 194 runs.
WELLINGTON (AFP) - Records tumbled as century-makers Brendon McCullum and BJ Watling pursued a marathon partnership to have New Zealand 440-5 at tea on Monday, the fourth day of the second Test in Wellington.
In a colossal 346-run stand, McCullum was not out 228 with Watling on 119, both career-best figures as the skipper became only the second New Zealander to post two double centuries in one series.
India can still claim to hold the advantage with four sessions remaining and trailing by 194 runs, but they need to snap the McCullum-Watling stand quickly if they are to pull off a series-levelling victory.
McCullum, who has been batting for nearly 10 hours, went to the middle with New Zealand in trouble at 52-3 and the situation was more dire at 94-5 when he was joined by Watling.
Their unbroken 346 partnership is a New Zealand record against India, overtaking the 271 set by Ross Taylor and Jesse Ryder in 2009.
It is New Zealand s best sixth-wicket stand, eclipsing the 339 gathered by McCullum and Martin Guptill against Bangladesh four years ago, and it is the third-best New Zealand stand against all countries.
McCullum also scored 224 to set up New Zealand s 40-run victory in the first Test, and made 225 against India at Hyderabad in 2010 to equal Stephen Fleming as the only New Zealanders to score three career double centuries.
He also joins Glenn Turner as the only New Zealanders to score two double centuries in the same series. Turner achieved his feat in the West Indies in 1972.
The Indian bowlers have been unable to unnerve the McCullum and Watling pairing, who have calmly forged ahead with their potentially match-saving stand and left India hoping the batsmen make a mistake rather than attacking for wickets.
For long periods, captain and wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been a lone figure behind the stumps, as the fielders scattered to save runs rather than take wickets.
New Zealand resumed the day at 252-5, adding 95 runs in the first session and a further 93 during the middle session.
