NZ still plagued by inconsistencies

India's first Test series victory in New Zealand in 41 years on Tuesday highlighted the hosts' battle with inconsistencies that have haunted their Test performances in recent years.

India claimed the three-Test series 1-0 after they won the first match in Hamilton by 10 wickets before they batted for more than two days to save the second in Napier.

The third Test at Wellington's Basin Reserve ended in a moral victory for the tourists when they reduced New Zealand to 281 for eight chasing an improbable 617 for victory before rain on the final day intervened and forced it to end in a draw.

Despite the result, there were times New Zealand had the Indians on the back foot, only for a lack of penetration in their bowling to let India's experienced batting lineup seize back control of the match.

None of the New Zealand bowlers averaged under 30 for their wickets, with Chris Martin the most successful with 14 wickets at 32.71. Iain O'Brien took nine wickets at 50.22, while swing bowlers Kyle Mills, James Franklin and Tim Southee managed just four wickets between them.

"Chris Martin was fantastic with the ball," captain Daniel Vettori told reporters. "He's a wonderful bowler and he proved himself against a quality attack.

"We do things well for a period of time but the longevity of what we do is the thing that's causing us the most stress and causing me the most stress.

"We see pockets of it all the time that we can be a good team but we're not delivering it often enough and we've seen that throughout the series."

Vettori admitted the team had been inconsistent, not just throughout the Indian series but also against West Indies earlier.

"I suppose we've been inconsistent but we've only lost one test match which I think people have to remember," he said.

"We dominated the last test and we played pretty well against the West Indies ... (but) we still know we've got a long way to improve as a test match side and we know we are inconsistent."

Despite the lack of an express bowler to spearhead the battery of fast medium swing bowlers whose tenacity is one of their strongest attributes, the team appear to be developing a core of young batsmen who could grow as a unit.

Martin Guptill forced his way into the Test team after impressive one-day performances, which included a century on debut when he made 122 not out against West Indies in January.

Although he did not pass 50 in the Tests against India, scores of 48 and 49 seemed to indicate a natural confidence, while Ross Taylor scored centuries in successive matches and is rapidly exhibiting signs of growing maturity at the crease.

Wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum also scored his third Test century in the 619 for nine declared at McLean Park, which was highlighted by Jesse Ryder's 201, made after the burly left hander scored his maiden Test century of 102 in Hamilton.

Vettori said he believed with that core of aggressive batsmen and some more consistency from his bowlers the team could improve their Test ranking of eighth within the next two years.

"There is talent within the team and we're probably not justifying talent that we have there with the level of our results," Vettori said.

"I know we aspire to be the best in the world ... but I think we'd like to see some improvement and we'd obviously like to get off the foot of the table in terms of the major playing nations and get somewhere around those middle rankings.

"If we could get up to fourth or five over the next 24 months that would be very pleasing."