New Zealand hustled their way back into the second Test with three wickets but India retain the upper hand at lunch on the second day in Wellington.

The tourists maintained a decent clip on Saturday to reach 5-201, boosted by 98 to opener Shikhar Dhawan, giving them a first-innings lead of nine runs with five wickets in hand.

Resuming at 2-100, they made batting look slightly more comfortable than New Zealand did when the hosts battled to 192 in challenging conditions on Friday.

However, there is enough life in the Basin Reserve pitch to keep the contest interesting.

Virat Kohli (27no) and Ajinkya Rahane (22no) are India’s last remaining specialist batsmen and their scalps will be vital for a New Zealand side who lead the two-Test series 1-0.

They were frustrated by a stoic stand from nightwatchman Ishant Sharma, who continued a fine Test after taking 6-51 with the ball.

Sharma saw off 16 balls late on Friday and then trudged on in the face of seam movement and some variable bounce to reach a valuable 26 off 50 balls before snicking Trent Boult.

Dhawan batted aggressively until he was also caught by wicketkeeper BJ Watling off Tim Southee.

Dhawan struck 14 fours and one six before falling two runs short of successive centuries, having compiled 115 in India’s unsuccessful fourth-innings run chase at Eden Park last week.

Boult and Southee both have two wickets while allrounder James Neesham claimed his first Test scalp on debut.

Neesham bowled Rohit Sharma for a third-ball duck when the batsman played on unnecessarily to a wide ball.