Photos from Ahmedabad

Zaheer Khan produced a destructive new ball spell to put Indian in control of the first Test against New Zealand.

He dismissed Mark Richardson, Lou Vincent and Stephen Fleming as the Kiwis ended day two on 41-3.

Rahul Dravid had earlier achieved his highest Test score of 222 as India piled up 500-5 before declaring.

Dravid hit a six and 28 fours and put on 182 for the fifth wicket with skipper Sourav Ganguly, who finished on 100 not out.

New Zealand enjoyed an early success when VVS Laxman mis-timed an attempted drive and was caught by Paul Wiseman for 64 off Daniel Vettori.

Dravid was unruffled, however, and progressed serenely towards 200 after an anxious moment when the ball bounced up from his pad, knocking off his cap which thankfully dropped short of the stumps.

New Zealand's bowlers suffered during the afternoon session as Ganguly grew in confidence after a slow start to his innings despite receiving two warnings from the umpires for running on the pitch.

Ganguly congratulates Dravid on his double century

Dravid's double century arrived off 381 balls as they set a new fifth wicket record for India against the Kiwis, beating the 127-run partnership between Vijay Manjrekar and Gulab Ramchand in 1955-56.

His innings eventually came to an end when he edged a catch to wicket-keeper Robbie Hart off Jacob Oram.

New Zealand were looking to avoid early damage when they began their reply, but Zaheer had other ideas.

He took 3-16 in seven overs with Richardson and Fleming bowled for six and one respectively, and Vincent caught behind by Parthiv Patel for seven.

Ganguly wasted no time in turning to spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, but they ended the day wicket-less with Nathan Astle 13 not out and Scott Styris on 10.

India: A Chopra, V Sehwag, S R Tendulkar, R Dravid, V V S Laxman, S C Ganguly (Capt), P A Patel (Wkt), A Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan, L Balaji.

New Zealand: M H Richardson, S P Fleming (Capt), L Vincent, N J Astle, S B Styris, C D McMillan, R G Hart (Wkt), J D P Oram, D L Vettori, P J Wiseman, D R Tuffey.

Umpires: David Shepherd (England) and Rudi Koertzen (South Africa).