Hamilton: New Zealand tamed the demon pitch to post an exciting four-wicket victory over India in the second and final Test on Sunday and wrap up the two-match series 2-0.

The hosts were in deep trouble at 105-5 chasing a 160-run target on a seamer-friendly track before Jacob Oram saw them home with a crucial unbeaten 26 under pressure.

New Zealand scored 160-6 to win its second successive Test against the tourists inside three days. The first day's play was washed out without a ball being bowled.

They had won the opening Test by 10 wickets at Wellington. New Zealand did not find batting easy on a pitch where 22 wickets had fallen on a sensational third day as it struggled for runs.

The carnage appeared to continue as New Zealand lost five wickets in the morning after resuming at 24 for no loss, but Oram and Scott Styris (17) put on 31 for the sixth wicket to help their team win a low-scoring match.

This was the first Test since 1934-35 (England v West Indies at Barbados) when no batsman could score a half-century, India's Rahul Dravid being the top-scorer of the match with 39 in the second innings.

Two small, but valuable, partnerships made New Zealand's fortunes in a match in which each run put as much pressure on India as the fall of each wicket on the hosts.

Skipper Stephen Fleming (32) added 37 for the third wicket with Craig McMillan (18) and Oram 31 for the sixth with Styris.

Fast bowler Ashish Nehra (3-34) sustained the tourists' hopes with three wickets in the first session, but his effort was still not good enough to stop India from suffering the first whitewash under Saurav Ganguly's captaincy.

Oram, playing only his second Test, considerably eased the pressure on his team when he drove off spinner Harbhajan Singh through the covers and then Nehra square of the wicket for two boundaries in the closing stages.

Wicket-keeper Robbie Hart completed the job when he turned Nehra for the winning single.

Left-arm seamer Nehra, 23, had thrown the match wide open with a triple-strike, making the batsmen struggle for runs with his tidy line and length.

Ganguly relied on his seamers for early breakthroughs and did not have to wait long for the first success as Tinu Yohannan had Lou Vincent caught behind with the one that moved away a bit in the third over.

Fleming and Mark Richardson appeared to have steadied the innings with a 22-run stand for the second wicket before Nehra broke the partnership.

Nehra put pressure on New Zealand with the dismissal of Richardson, caught by wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel after adding 10 to his overnight score of 18.

Fleming played a few attacking shots as he hit fast bowler Zaheer Khan for two successive fours and then twice on-drove the bowler for boundaries.

The New Zealand captain's brief flourish ended when he mistimed a pull off Nehra to be caught by Zaheer at short mid-on. The bowler and the fielder nearly collided while going for the catch, but Zaheer managed to hold on to the ball.

McMillan fell after playing a couple of aggressive shots, hoisting Harbhajan over long-on for a six before being trapped leg before by Nehra.

New Zealand suffered a big blow when the last specialist batsman, Nathan Astle, departed after scoring just 14.

Astle was brilliantly caught by a diving Patel off Zaheer to leave his in trouble at 105-5 - still 55 short of victory - but Oram held his nerve under pressure to steer his team home.

Extras:
Scorecard of Test 2