The Kiwi batsmen had a tough time negotiating the Indian attack during the first session, which was mostly played under lights.
The pacers, especially Zaheer Khan, used the prevailing condition to the team's advantage.
At lunch, Ross Taylor and Daniel Flynn were unbeaten on 27 and 7, respectively.
Electing to bat, New Zealand got off to a poor start, losing Brendon McCullum in the second over with the visitors yet to open their account.
After McCullum's exit, Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson played watchfully and managed to accumulate runs against pacers Zaheer and Umesh Yadav.
While Guptill seemed to be in all sorts of trouble negotiating the Indian attack, which extracted some bounce in the first hour, Williamson played with confidence.
Guptill got a reprieve on 17 when Virat Kohli in the third slip failed to latch on to an outer edge off Zaheer's bowling. He got lucky once again when he edged the ball that flew right of the diving Virender Sehwag in slips.