Photos from Ahmedabad

New Zealand ended day four of the first Test on 48-1, needing another 322 for an unlikely win against India.

India raced to 209-6 in their second innings midway through the final session before declaring.

Rahul Dravid, who made 222 in the first innings, top-scored again with 73 from only 86 balls and VVS Laxman thumped 44 from 35 balls.

The declaration gave India 18 overs of bowling at New Zealand, and they picked up the big wicket of Mark Richardson.

Richardson fell just before the close, debutant Akash Chopra reacting quickly to a gloved defensive shot off Anil Kumble.

In the main, New Zealand had a reasonable day with the bat.

Tailender Daniel Vettori hit 60 in the morning to enable them to avert the follow-on before they were dismissed close to lunch.

We have a job ahead of us against two quality spinners New Zealand's Paul Wiseman More NZ quotes

At 282-8, the Kiwis began the day needing 19 more runs to avoid being sent in again.

Vettori accumulated intelligently, adding to his overnight 28 and moving past his half-century smoothly.

He put on 67 for the ninth wicket with fellow slow bowler Paul Wiseman, while Zaheer Khan claimed 4-68.

Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar, knowing India needed quick runs, perished cheaply, both men failing for the second time in the match.

Chopra dives to catch Richardson late in the day

But Chopra added to his 42 with a second promising innings of 31 and Dravid oozed class again.

Off-spinner Wiseman grabbed 4-64 including the wicket of Tendulkar, who was out for seven trying to push the scoring after he fell for eight in the first innings.

Vettori took 1-81 in 16 overs, but had two batsmen spilled in the deep.

In the Kiwis' second innings, Richardson scored 21 before being dismissed while Lou Vincent (21 not out) and Daryl Tuffey (0 not out) were the not-out batsmen.

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).