Ishant Sharma records his second best bowling figures in Tests

Indian pacer Ishant Sharma helped India put a few brakes on the New Zealand scoring by bagging a fifer in the second session of the second day in Auckland. (Scorecard | Highlights | Final report | Pics)

While Brendon McCullum continued to score freely, Ishant provided the first breakthrough of the morning, trapping Corey Anderson in front of the stumps for 77. The replays suggested the ball would have missed the stumps but Anderson had to walk back. With this wicket he broke a 133-run stand between McCullum and Anderson.

Just a couple of overs later, Ishant forced BJ Watling to attempt a drive away from his body and a resultant outside edge carried to Shikhar Dhawan in the slips.

After Southee's cameo was brought to an end by Shami, Indian-origin all-rounder Ish Sodhi walked out and looked set to give McCullum company as the latter was aiming to extend the Kiwi total as much as possible.

Ishant however, had other plans as he induced an outside edge from Sodhi off a length delivery that carried straight to Rohit Sharma in the slips.

With that wicket, he earned his fourth five-wicket haul in Tests and his first since July 2011.

The Kiwi innings came to an end with a spectacular effort in the deep from Ravindra Jadeja to dismiss Brendon McCullum for 224 and help Ishant finish with his second-best figures of six for 134.