Pacer Ishant Sharma picked three wickets in his morning spell as India reduced New Zealand to 51/4 at lunch on opening day of the second and final Test, here today.
Using the green pitch and seaming conditions at Basin Reserve to the maximum, Ishant followed up his nine-wicket haul in the first Test at Auckland and took three for 14 in an unbroken spell of nine overs to wreak havoc onto the Black Caps' top-order.
Mohammad Shami (1/17) picked up the other wicket to complete a great morning for India, while Zaheer Khan was only the third bowler used in this first session.
Kane Williamson (15 not out) and Corey Anderson (zero not out) were the unbeaten batsmen.
This was after Indian skipper MS Dhoni won his seventh straight toss on the tour and elected to bowl first.
The visitors didn't make any changes to their eleven from the previous game which they lost by 40 runs inside four days. New Zealand had already declared their eleven on the eve of the match, with Ross Taylor and Ish Sodhi making way for Test debutants Tom Latham and Jimmy Neesham.
Peter Fulton and Hamish Rutherford took strike for the hosts, as Zaheer got proceedings underway. While the experienced speedster hit probing lengths immediately, Shami was still in the same mode as at Eden Park, bowling a tad short and looking for bounce from the wicket than movement in the air.
