Sawt Falasteen - India collapse to 34-6 after opting to bat against New Zealand

India won the toss and elected to bat in tricky overcast conditions after the first day was lost to rain and were soon in trouble.

Rishabh Pant was not out 15 when lunch was taken after Matt Henry induced Ravindra Jadeja to loop a catch to point to become the fourth Indian to be out without scoring.

Tim Southee struck the first blow in the seventh over with the score on nine, bowling India captain Rohit Sharma through the gate with a sharp inswinger after he had made just two.

O'Rourke struck in his first over to get Kohli caught at leg gully without adding to the score, silencing the home crowd.

Sarfaraz Khan came in at number four after replacing Shubman Gill, who had neck stiffness.

But he only lasted three balls, Devon Conway taking a good one-handed catch at wide mid-off to leave India reeling at 10-3 inside 10 overs.

There followed a brief interruption for rain but there was no respite for India when the players returned.

O'Rourke sent back Yashasvi Jaiswal, caught by Ajaz Patel for 13 with the score on 31 and KL Rahul, caught behind by Tom Blundell, for yet another duck as India slumped to 33-5.

It could have been worse for India but Blundell dropped a simple catch off Pant when he was on seven.

India made two changes from the side that completed a 2-0 sweep of Bangladesh earlier this month, bringing in Sarfaraz and left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav instead of seamer Akash Deep.

Tom Latham took over as New Zealand captain after Southee stepped down following the recent 2-0 series defeat in Sri Lanka.

New Zealand have won just two of their 36 previous Tests in India, the last victory coming in 1988 at Mumbai.

H.Nasr--SF-PST