Spinner Mitchell Santner and paceman Trent Boult yesterday combined to lead New Zealand’s fightback and restrict India to 291-9 on the opening day of the first Test.
At 154-1, India looked set for a big first innings total, but after Santner claimed three top and middle-order wickets, Boult (3-57) wreaked havoc with the second new ball to peg back the hosts at Kanpur’s Green Park Stadium.
Earlier, Lokesh Rahul and Murali Vijay gave the hosts a decent start after skipper Virat Kohli had opted to bat in India’s 500th Test.
The 24-year-old hit four boundaries, and a six off Mitchell Santner, before getting a faint edge to wicketkeeper BJ Watling in the left-arm spinner’s second over.
Cheteshwar Pujara (62) then joined forces with Vijay (65) to prop up the innings, the duo adding 112 runs for the second wicket and rarely looking in discomfort.
They brought up their individual 50s in successive overs before Santner had Pujara popping a simple return catch.
Neil Wagner struck a body blow when he banged it short and induced Kohli (9) into attempting a pull shot early in his innings, only for the right-hander to top edge a catch to Ish Sodhi.
Sodhi dismissed Vijay with Watling holding on to another faint edge as New Zealand claimed three important wickets for 80 runs to halt India’s progress.
Batting at six, Rohit Sharma made a fluent 35, while Ravichandran Ashwin made 40
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