Winning the toss and choosing to bat first, India lost Shikhar Dhawan – who replaced the injured KL Rahul – in just the second over of the day. Murali Vijay and Virat Kohli also failed to get starts as India were reduced to 46/3 by some disciplined pace bowling from the Kiwis.
Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane came together to put on a 141-run partnership for the fourth wicket, but both failed to convert their half-centuries into three-digit scores.
A flurry of Indian wickets in the post-tea session saw Kohli’s men end the day on 239/7.
Matt Henry was the pick of the bowlers for the visitors, collecting figures of 3/35. Coming into the team in place of Ish Sodhi, Henry was relentless in the morning session and caused a lot of problems for India’s top-order batsmen – removing both of India’s openers.
Here are the top tweets of the day:
Really impressed with Ross Taylor's captaincy today...rarely allowed the game to drift. Brilliant. 👏👍🙏 #INDvNZ
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) September 30, 2016
There is no point talking about Rohit Sharma's Test failures anymore. #IndvNZ
— Chetan Narula (@chetannarula) September 30, 2016
Kohli strikes back, effortlessly outscoring Williamson for this Test. #INDvNZ
— Dan Liebke (@LiebCricket) September 30, 2016
Thank you Shikhar Dhawan, because of you even our number 3 batsmen can become competent openers.#IndVsNZ
— The Viral Fever (@TheViralFever) September 30, 2016
Surgical attack on Dhawan's stumps.
— Trendulkar (@Trendulkar) September 30, 2016
Shikhar Dhawan is like the Nimbu Mirchi for Indian team - He gets out early to ensure the rest can score freely and are not distracted
— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS) September 30, 2016
What does Shikhar Dhawan hv in common with Michael Jackson? They both wear gloves for no apparent reason. Seen on Twitter. LoL. :)
— Sumanth Raman (@sumanthraman) September 30, 2016
Rohit Sharma 2(12). If you did not notice the talent in his walk back to pavilion, something's really wrong with you. #INDvNZ
— cricBC (@cricBC) September 30, 2016
Vinod Kambli scored 1084 runs in 21 Test innings & was axed. Rohit Sharma has scored 1051 runs in 34 Test innings but would get more chances
— Navneet Mundhra (@navneet_mundhra) September 30, 2016
He came, He saw, He got out.
— Gappistan Radio (@GappistanRadio) September 30, 2016
The legend of Rohit Sharma...
Kohli is a great chaser... outside off stump
— Sidvee (@sidvee) September 30, 2016
Matt Henry, straight off the bench and bowling this good.
— Iain O'Brien (@iainobrien) September 30, 2016
Great job by him and the @BLACKCAPS coaching staff!
