Stephen Fleming, while savouring an emphatic 2-0 series win against India, conceded that his team was nervous before completing a four-wicket victory on the fourth day. "It was pretty tense really," said Fleming. "Lack of concentration for half-an-hour could have turned the game. So, we were pretty nervous and under pressure.

"The game was in balance when we were 90 for 4 and then 105 for 5 on that type of wicket. Neither side was able to dominate. It was superb to win the Test from such a situation. We are very excited and very delighted about the way we played in these conditions and it means a lot to us to win this series."

Fleming lavishly praised Jacob Oram, who scored an unbeaten 26 under pressure in only his second Test to steer his team home in a low-scoring match.

Oram also grabbed 4 for 41 in the second innings to lead his team's fightback on Saturday along with Daryl Tuffey, who was named Man of the Match for his haul of 8 for 53.

"He (Oram) played a good knock and also bowled well. He will be confident going into the one-day series," said Fleming, whose side will play seven one-day internationals against the tourists. The first match starts at Auckland on December 26.

Sourav Ganguly said his batsmen had a tough time on pitches very conducive to seam bowling. "There was everything in pitches for fast bowlers in both the Tests. There was pace, bounce and seam movement. It was not an easy going for batsmen.

"I don't want to comment on pitches, whether they were seaming, bouncing or wet. Just two fifties from India and one from New Zealand in four innings show it was not an easy time for batsmen," said Ganguly.

Rahul Dravid (76) and Sachin Tendulkar (51) were the only Indians to score half-centuries at Wellington, while Mark Richardson remained the top-scorer of the series with 89 in the first Test. No batsman managed a half-century in the low-scoring second Test here.

"I think 40 to 50 more runs could have made a difference," said Ganguly, whose team made 154 in the second innings. "We should have put more runs on the board in the second innings. It's really disappointing that we failed to win an away Test series again."

India have not won a Test series outside the sub-continent since 1986 when Kapil Dev led his team to a 2-0 victory in England.

Mike Procter, the match referee, added to the Indian team's woes by fining them 35% of the match fees for a slow over-rate in the first Test. Procter told reporters at the end of the second Test that the Indians had bowled six overs less than scheduled in the first game.

"They were slow in New Zealand's second innings in the second Test, but in consultation with the two umpires, I decided against it (imposing any penalty)," said Procter.

Procter explained that according to ICC guidelines, a team can only be fined if an innings has lasted for over 50 overs - so India and New Zealand enjoyed their only reward for collapsing in the first three innings of the Test.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd