India, who started the day at 64/2, lost three wickets -- of skipper Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane -- in the first session to go to lunch at 130/5.
Post lunch, however, they kept losing wickets as the tail failed to wag once again. Rishabh Pant, who was the innings top-scorer with 41 runs, was the last hope for India but he fell to a rash shot as the seventh wicket with the score on 156.
Brief scores: India 217 & 170 all out in 73 overs (R Sharma 30, R Pant 41, T Southee 4/48, T Boult 3/39, K Jamieson 2/30) vs New Zealand 249 all out in 99.2 overs.
New Zealand need 139 runs to win.
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