Washington Sundar sizzled with career-best figures of 7/59 to send New Zealand crashing for 259 in their first innings on Day 1 of the second Test on Thursday.
Tamil Nadu off-spinner Washington, picked ahead of Kuldeep Yadav to counter the Kiwi left-handers, bagged his maiden five-wicket haul in Tests, while senior spinner Ravichandran Ashwin claimed 3/64.
India were rocked by the early dismissal of captain Rohit Sharma, who was bowled by Tim Southee for a duck. The hosts were 16/1 in 11 overs at stumps on the opening day.
Yashasvi Jaiswal was unbeaten on six, while Shubman Gill made 10 from 32 balls.
New Zealand, who were well-placed on 197/3 at one stage, lost their last seven wickets for 62 runs with Sundar running through the middle and lower order.
Rachin Ravindra (65) looked set for another century to lead the Kiwis’ charge but Sundar’s perseverance paid rich dividends as he bowled him with a beauty. The right-arm spinner also cleaned up Tom Blundell (3) with another peach to end the post-lunch session on a high.
Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra hit half-centuries but the other Kiwi batters struggled on a pitch offering considerable assistance to the spinners from the start.
Ashwin blew away the top order as he got the wickets of Tom Latham, Wil Young and Conway, while the young Sundar produced two magnificent deliveries to get rid of the well-set Ravindra and Tom Blundell at the stroke of the tea interval.
Having resumed at 92/2, New Zealand remained largely in control of the afternoon session until a change of ends worked for Sundar as he joined Ravichandran Ashwin among wicket-takers.
Conway played a fine knock of 76 from 141 balls, before he was caught behind off Ashwin with wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant taking a superb catch.
Ashwin, who managed just one wicket in Bengaluru Test which India lost by eight wickets, bounced back on a pitch considerable turn from the outset, having earlier dismissed Tom Latham and Will Young.
Ashwin snared two wickets in the first session but New Zealand negated the Indian spinners deftly on a slow and spin-friendly surface.
Conway looked assured against a three-pronged Indian spin attack as he played some fine strokes along with rotating strike regularly through singles on either side of the wicekt.
It only took just seven overs to determine that spinners would play a key role in the game Ashwin vindicated providing the first breakthrough on his fifth ball.
Ashwin got drift and turn to dismiss the New Zealand captain Tom Latham (15) for the ninth time in Tests as he trapped the left-hander plumb leg before wicket.
The pair of Will Young (18) and Conway did well to keep things largely in favour of New Zealand as they adopted a slightly cautious approach during their 44-run association for the second wicket.
While Conway deployed the reverse sweep to a good effect, the right-handed Young batted fluently until he edged one down the leg side to gift Ashwin his second wicket of the session.
Young missed the glance as the ball brushed the gloves before settling into Rishabh Pant’s gloves, who didn’t show much interest in the catch initially.
While the bowler was immediately up for an appeal, it was Sarfaraz Khan at short leg and Virat Kohli who convinced skipper Rohit Sharma to take a review even though Pant showed no visible interest for a catch down the leg side. Young was given out on the review as the UltraEdge confirmed that the ball had indeed brushed Young’s gloves.
Soon after, a vociferous appeal for a leg-before against Conway off Ravindra Jadeja was turned down by the on-field umpire but India still chose to review it, losing one appeal in the process with the ball missing the leg stump by a big margin.
Ashwin, who sent down the majority of the 31 overs bowled in the morning session, found the outside edge off Conway’s bat shortly before lunch but the ball flew wide of Rohit at slip.
Earlier, New Zealand won the toss and had no hesitation in electing to bat on a dry pitch which is likely to get increasingly difficult to bat.
India made three changes their team as Mohammed Siraj, K L Rahul and Kuldeep Yadav made way for Akash Deep, Washington Sundar and Shubman Gill, while the Kiwis made just one change, bringing in left-arm spinner Mitchell Santer in place of injured pacer Matt Henry.
New Zealand lead the series 1-0.
