Brendon McCullum was the star of New Zealand’s first innings in Auckland with his brilliant 224-run knock. Riding on the captain’s double ton, the Kiwis piled on 503 before reducing India to 130 for 4 at the end of the second day. When the hosts had lost three early wickets, in the first session of the Test, it seemed highly farfetched that they would scale the 500-run peak. McCullum admitted he too didn’t expect to get so far. "I thought we will get 200-odd runs, because when you are 30/3 down, you are thinking about small targets and getting a competitive score. Never did I think that after 30/3 in those conditions, we would end up getting 500 runs and for this batting line-up, I think that is a fine achievement," he said. Pleased with his team’s performance so far, the Kiwi captain is confident his bowlers can dismiss the Indians twice to take a 1-0 lead in the series. "We have bowlers to take 20 wickets if we give them enough runs and I think we have given them enough runs.” Like Murali Vijay, McCullum too thought that the swinging new ball was hard to negotiate for batsmen from both sides. "The new ball is stopping a bit, when it is hard,” he said. “We saw that with Ishant (Sharma) when the ball was changed in the morning and the pitch started to stop a little bit. Short catches in front of the wicket will become crucial as the game goes on. "So, to get two wickets in the first over was outstanding, especially (Cheteshwar) Pujara's wicket because he can bat for weeks. It's nice to get him pretty early. They had a nice partnership going in the end, but it means that we still have a hard ball tomorrow morning. There is a slightly earlier start and I am hoping for an overcast morning with some swing," he said.