Murali Vijay (64 not out) scored his second 50 of the match while Cheteshwar Pujara (50 not out) also joined in as the duo took India to 159/1 at the end of Day three at Kanpur. The duo had an unbeaten 107-run partnership. A well-poised New Zealand collapsed in the first session, with Ravichandran Ashwin (4/93) and Ravindra Jadeja (5/73) running through the batting order, bowling them out for 262. India have a lead of 215 at the close of play.

Jadeja and Ashwin were finally rewarded for toiling on day two. The off-spinner got the early breakthroughs, dismissing half-centurions Tom Latham and skipper Kane Williamson. Jadeja took care of the lower middle order, despite Luke Ronchi and Mitchell Santner taking the fight to the hosts. The left-armer took three wickets in an over.

The wicket was still conducive for the batsmen and KL Rahul got off to a solid start. For the second time in the game, the Karnataka batsmen failed to get past the 50 mark. Pujara and Vijay were in cruise control and were on top of the New Zealand attack, despite the lone wicket-taker, Ish Sodhi, and Mitchell Santner getting good turn.