Southee seven gives New Zealand slim lead

New Zealand 365 & 29 for 0 (McCullum 21*, Guptill 7*) lead India 353 (Kohli 103, Dhoni 62, Raina 55, Southee 7-64) by 41 runs

After MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli got to their landmarks, India folded on the third morning © Associated Press

Tim Southee led the New Zealand charge against India on the third morning in Bangalore, taking 7 for 64 as the hosts were dismissed for 353 half an hour before lunch. At the break, New Zealand were 29 for no loss, with Brendon McCullum batting on 21, Martin Guptill on 7, and the team 41 runs ahead overall.

Most of the morning was dominated by the fine spell of new-ball bowling by Southee; these are his best bowling figures in an innings and took him past 50 Test wickets. If the remaining India batsmen could put together 70 runs this morning, after being five down overnight, it was only because of a handy tenth-wicket partnership of 33 between R Ashwin and Umesh Yadav.

At the start of play, the new ball was only two overs away. MS Dhoni welcomed it with a four, hitting straight past the bowler, Boult, to cross fifty. Kohli got to his century, his second in Test cricket, off the last ball of the same over, flicking one off his pads to the square-leg fence.

The drama of the morning, however, was to transpire when Southee pressed on, bowling the second of his nine overs of the session. The new ball gave him shape and swing, and was to produce four wickets in three successive overs. Southee's figures for the morning read 9-2-29-4. These included the wickets of Kohli and Dhoni, both leg before. Given that Southee had bowled both inswingers and late away swingers, both men misread the ball coming into them. Television replays showed that the disguised scrambled seam was what could have led Kohli to pad up and not offer a shot. Dhoni was out to a similar delivery, when trying to hit the ball onto the on-side. Southee then removed Zaheer Khan and Pragyan Ojha in one over, with India still 45 runs away from the New Zealand total.

Ashwin and Yadav were to offer resistance for almost nine overs, before Trent Boult bowled the resolute Yadav. Ashwin's 32 was yet another significant batting display by the India No. 8; it was an innings played without either undue risk or reserve.

Sharda Ugra is senior editor at ESPNcricinfo

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