Bengaluru: Before rain began to fall in Thursday's first session, New Zealand batted 12.4 overs on a dull morning with a shiny new SG ball. That was all they needed to clear up any misconceptions anyone might have had about them.

India never recovered from that brief burst of madness which saw them plummet to 13/3 with both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli back in the hut. The wickets continued to fall after that. India were out for 46 in 31.2 overs, their lowest score at home. the lowest of any Asian team at home.

One of the peculiarities of cricket is that the conditions can sometimes have an overwhelming influence on the game. It's not just about the team. It's also about timing. And that's why Rohit Sharma admitted that he made a mistake as captain.

But after the decision was made, Rohit the batsman surely should have known that trying to wear down the pacers was the wiser course. He has done this admirably before – with KL Rahul as his companion during their century-plus opening partnership in India's famous 2021 Lord's Test win against James Anderson and Co.

Ahead of the Test match, India head coach Gautam Gambhir had spoken of being a team that could “score 400 runs a day” or “last two days” if necessary.

This wasn't Test cricket in England or New Zealand, but apparently Tom Latham got lucky on his first day as permanent captain of his team. These were the conditions he would have wanted and he got them. How often would you get a pepped up, damp wicket in a spin country and how often do you have the bowlers to take advantage of it?

Disturbances caused by calculated aggression have become more common in Test cricket, but their effectiveness may be overstated. especially in seam conditions.

Southee, the old-timer, gave Rohit a good workout with his trademark outside swing. You could feel him taking advantage of the Indian captain's patience. He had survived a narrow LBW call against Matt Henry's inbound delivery on Umpire's Call for Height. And there were a few more plays and misses.

But he would also have known that Southee was making good use of the wobbly seam. These deliveries are never telegraphed and Rohit tried to force the play with an element of forethought to clear the pitch but the ball came sharply into the goal and disturbed the woodwork.

Virat Kohli was eliminated – after eight years in third place – to loud cheers from the increasingly numerous crowd. It could have been KL Rahul who was more used to handling the new ball as Shubman Gill was now out with a stiff neck.

More of Southee shaping it away to test Kohli's outside edge? No. Latham introduced the 6-foot-3 William O'Rourke with a leg slip. The last ball of the over bounced off the surface, bounced back into the stadium and the rookie pacer managed to silence the stadium. Kohli reluctantly walked back with a 'how did you get up?' look on his face.

Sarfaraz Khan came in and out with no points and played an unusually aggressive shot to break through Henry's tough lengths. Even if he had received the order to counterattack, the question is whether he was best equipped to do so and whether using this trick was the best tactic.

Pant showed some patience before challenging Henry with a reverse swing. He's done it effectively before, but this time the ball hit the back of the bat. Pant was lucky to escape.

At the resumption after the drizzle, Yashasvi Jaiswal (13, 63b), the only batsman who tried to fight his way out of trouble, fell and hit to point. KL Rahul arrived at 6 o'clock to hold his new position and fell while trying to guide a ball down the leg side.

Discipline is the one thing New Zealand bowlers do best and that meant India's lower middle order didn't get a chance to shine either. Henry was the most prolific Kiwi bowler with figures of 13.2-3-15-5. O'Rourke (12-6-22-4) had a fantastic first appearance in India.

To further dampen the mood in India, the sun came out as soon as the Kiwi openers arrived in the afternoon session. India did not have the luxury of three strikers and their two, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, were not as assertive with the new ball. Thanks to a fluent 91 from Devon Conway and some fielding errors from India, New Zealand had built a 134-run lead with seven wickets remaining.

“In order for us to stay in the game, we have to restrict them as little as possible. The tone calms down. So we have to bat really hard in the second innings and try to make a game out of it,” Rohit said.