Four wickets from Tim Southee with the second new ball helped New Zealand to a first innings lead over India in the second Test in Bangalore.

Southee took 4-10 with the new ball early on day three, reducing India to 9-320 before India’s last pair scrambled 33 runs to take the team to 353, 12 runs short of New Zealand’s first innings total.

The New Zealander’s haul for the innings of 7-64 was a career-best.

Openers Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill then lasted the five overs until lunch to leave New Zealand 0-29, a lead of 41.

Indian batsman Virat Kohli was able to bring up his century in the over that the new ball was taken, two overs into the day’s play, but the floodgates opened when Southee trapped him lbw for 103 three overs later.

He trapped captain MS Dhoni in front soon afterwards for 62 and when Zaheer Khan and Pragyan Ohja fell quickly to Southee, it seemed like the Black Caps could have a 40-run lead.

But some firm hitting from Ravichandran Ashwin, with Umesh Yadav just managing to survive, frustrated the Black Caps.

Yadav eventually fell to Trent Boult for four, Boult’s first wicket of the innings, leaving Ashwin not out on 32.

McCullum and Guptill played positively in the five overs before lunch but the New Zealand line-up can expect to be tested by the Indian spinners Ashwin and Ohja for the rest of the day.