In their second innings, India have struggled to 144 for 4, with the batsmen again failing to stand up to the challenge. After shining with the bat, Boult shone with the ball as well, dismissing Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara and Indian skipper Virat Kohli for 19. Mayank Agarwal made a fighting 58, but fell to Tim Southee against the run of play.
Speaking after the match, Boult, who had openly challenged to target Kohli’s wicket, revealed the plan against the Indian skipper that worked. The left-arm seamer explained that he made a concerted effort to bowl bouncers and unsettle the 31-year-old. Boult was successful in his plan as Kohli was dismissed for 19 from 43 balls trying to hook a bouncer. He was caught by wicket-keeper BJ Watling. At stumps, India were trailing by 39 runs with six wickets in hand.
"Virat likes to feel the bat on ball like a couple of their guys. Definitely almost we miss, he hits and he hits it well and gets boundaries. From our point of view, we were trying to dry that up and for me personally using the wicket and the shorter ball was a good plan to try and control his run rate," Boult said after third day's play.
The experienced Kiwi bowler further gave credit to Jamieson, who also frustrated the Indian captain with short deliveries. "It is nice to draw the error out of him but I think the way that Kyle has been bowling the whole match, especially that spell he bowled to him and not letting him get away to a racing start was a big part of it," Boult explained.
Boult further said that he was conscious of changing the angles, and not let the batsmen settle in. "I think the luxury is that I have played a lot of cricket at the Basin Reserve. Generally, the wind is the biggest thing to deal with. But if I can chop and change those angles and not let a batsmen get familiar or get set with what I am trying to do then I hope that will interrupt them," he said.
"That's the luxury of being a left-armer and being able to use those subtle changes. The red balls here in New Zealand haven't been swinging as much as they have in the past and if that's not happening for me then it comes down to changing angles and using different parts of the crease," Boult added.
Boult, who is returning from a right hand fracture, was pleased to be among the wickets. "I'm just happy to be back out there. I've been pretty light on Test cricket and it's been a little frustrating on the sidelines. I enjoyed today and we're in a good position. The partnership out there is a big one but if we can get a couple more early in the first hour or so we should be in a good position,” he signed off.
--By A Cricket Correspondent