India’s fast bowlers took three cheap wickets and undercut New Zealand’s innings to 135-5 at lunch on the fifth day of the world test championship final on Tuesday.
New Zealand trailed by 82 runs at the Rose Bowl after a brief but exciting session which was delayed by more rain then saw India take three wickets and concede only 34 runs in 23 overs.
Captain Kane Williamson resumed on 12 when play got underway for the first time since Sunday evening, and could add only seven runs off the 88 balls he faced in the session to crawl to 19 at the break. Colin de Grandhomme was yet to get off the mark.
Two full days have been washed out and the final will extend into the reserve day on Wednesday.
Pacers Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Ishant Sharma took advantage of overcast conditions to swing and seam the ball against the defensive Black Caps.
Shami struck twice when Ross Taylor was well caught on 11 in the covers by Shubman Gill, and he clean bowled BJ Watling -- playing in his last test -- for 1 with a delivery that darted away from the right-hander.
In between, Henry Nicholls struggled to reach 7 from 23 deliveries before edging Sharma to second slip. Sharma had 2-27 and Shami 2-31.
All three fast bowlers beat Williamson several times but the skipper continued to hang on for 19 off 112 balls with just one boundary.
