The Black Caps lost four wickets in the first session in Kanpur on Saturday, while a late collapse saw India claim a further five for the cost of just seven runs, spinners Ravichandran Ashwin (4-93) and Ravindra Jadeja (5-73) drawing heavy turn from the track. Ajinkya Rahane had a soft dismissal in the second innings as well, but not before he made 40 off 81 balls, studded with four boundaries. However, India were hurried towards a declaration as Rohit Sharma (68) and Ravindra Jadeja (50) upped the scoring rate, the latter striking three sixes.
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While Vijay was the first batsman to be dismissed on the fourth day, for 76, Pujara got slightly more.
Earlier in the day, before fatigue kicked in, New Zealand’s spinners offered hope that perhaps they could compete with India’s spin riches on almost equal footing.
Luke Ronchi (38) added 49 with Mitchell Santner (32) but fell to a debatable lbw decision after Jadeja trapped him with a dipping delivery which might have been missing off stump.
Vijay and Pujara batted for about 10 overs together before Santner broke the 133-stand between them by trapping the former.
Earlier in the day, India began their second innings at a strong position with Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara at the crease.
Kohli walked in to a boisterous welcome by the crowd and pulled a short one from Ish Sodhi to mid-wicket boundary.
Resuming the day from 152 for one, Kiwi batters got off to a bad start as both the Indian spinners created problems for them with their turn and bounce. After a few uncharacteristic dabs and mistimed short-arm pull, Kohli attempted to sweep Mark Craig off the rough and could only top-edge his stroke into the welcoming palms of the deep mid-wicket fielder.
# Kohli is out at 18. The spin trio of Ish Sodhi, Santner and Craig bowled tightly.
However, Rahane was comfortable against Sodhi, driving him nicely on the front foot.
The spinners were able to extract turn off the Green Park track nearly immediately in the morning, and M Vijay could add just 12 runs to his overnight score of 64 before being trapped lbw by Santner.
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The Indian spinners had started the rot by taking three wickets in the space of 24 balls in the morning session when Ashwin removed both the overnight batsmen – Tom Latham (58) and captain Kane Williamson (75) – and Jadeja got rid of danger man Ross Taylor for a duck.
