New Zealand finally managed to get the wicket of Indian captain Virat Kohli after the tea break on day two of the third Test in Indore, but not before he had scored 211 invaluable runs. Jeetan Patel's second wicket of the match was New Zealand's first in four sessions after a drought of 672 balls.
The wicket brought an end to a mammoth 365-run partnership between Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane – India's highest for the fourth wicket in Tests. Rahane, who was in the 160s when Kohli was dismissed, continued to go for the shots, not caring for his double hundred. Rahane had been the aggressor in the partnership for a majority of the day, striking four sixes and using his feet brilliantly against the spinners.
In his pursuit for quick runs as the last session of the day wore on, Rahane was eventually dismissed on 188, after he nicked Matt Henry to BJ Watling, who took a brilliant catch driving to his right. Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja then added some quick runs towards the end, before the former hit a six to bring up his fifty and Kohli decided that 557 first-innings runs were enough.
The only blip in India's performance on Sunday, and in this match for that matter, was them being penalised five runs by the umpires because Jadeja ran in the middle of the pitch twice while batting. However, even as New Zealand's first innings began directly at 5/0, the tourists would not even have noticed, considering the magnitude of India's total. The Kiwi openers then managed to survive nine overs from India's bowlers till stumps, with their score at 28/0.
India have made merry on this pitch for most of six sessions, but that does not mean the Kiwis are going to have it easy. The pitch is by no means a highway: it is doing plenty. Some balls are keeping low and others are bouncing and turning viciously. Rahane had done superbly to survive a barrage of short-pitched bowling earlier in the day and he would be the first one to say it is not easy batting out there, despite his score. It is only going to get more helpful for the bowlers as this match progresses, and New Zealand would do very well to avoid another heavy defeat.