Live Cricket Score of India vs New Zealand, 1st Test, Day 4 at Kanpur

After a promising start, New Zealand's real downfall began in the brief period after Lunch on Day 3, when Jadeja and Ashwin ran through the batting line-up in jiffy. The visitors lost five wickets in 10.5 overs. 

Day 4 - Build Up : India look to turn the screws

After clinching four of the six sessions in the first two days in Kanpur, New Zealand got a taste of the sort of repercussions a moving Day 3 in the subcontinent can have on a Test. When they began on Saturday, New Zealand had 152 runs on board for the loss of just one wicket and looked set to polish off the deficit and take a lead. It took turn, bite and less than 50 overs for the Ravichandran Ashwin-Ravindra Jadeja pairing to make incisions of the highest quality. The visitors folded 56 runs short and then saw the game slowly drifting away from them.

The New Zealand spinners couldn't quite come close to replicating the sort of impact the Indian tweakers had on the opposition, as KL Rahul threw caution to the winds and played a wide array of strokes to nudge India's lead past 100 in no time. Even as the Karnataka batsman fell at the stroke of tea, there was no respite for New Zealand as Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay scored fifties and added an unbeaten stand in excess of 100 for the second wicket by the end of the day.

With a 215-run lead, India's grip on the Test is absolutely firm. But, as is the case in Tests, a fresh day, a new spell, a rejuvenated effort is all it takes to turn the tables.