There were times when Daniel Vettori's judgement in taking his team into the field seemed flawed. But despite India's batsmen enjoying periods of dominance in all three sessions, New Zealand ended the day with a slight upper hand.
By stumps, Sachin Tendulkar's 62 - his 53rd Test half-century - Harbhajan Singh's defiant 60, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's 52 and Virender Sehwag's 48 were India's highest scores.
India lead the three-Test series 1-0 after winning the first Test at Hamilton by 10 wickets and the second Test at Napier was drawn. The visitors are trying to win their first series in New Zealand since 1968.
Tendulkar forged a 90-run partnership for the third wicket with Rahul Dravid (35), while Sehwag shared a 73-run opening stand with Gautam Gambhir (23) and Dhoni and Harbhijan added 79 for the seventh wicket.
The most damaging stands from New Zealand's point of view were those between Dhoni and Harbhajan, which arrested their strong second-session comeback and late flurries involving Harbhajan and Zaheer Khan.
India's last-wicket pair of Ishant Sharma (15) and Munaf Patel (14) also defied New Zealand by adding 28 in an unbroken stand before stumps.
"We were looking to bat the whole day and we achieved that," said Harbhajan, who's compiled his seventh Test 50 and fifth in 15 months. "It would have been nice to get these runs with losing six or seven wickets but we are still very happy."
New Zealand's best bowler was Chris Martin, who took the new ball and returned figures of 3-95 at stumps.
"They probably ended up with 50 or so too many," Martin said. "We probably didn't have the energy or endurance to press home our advantage at the end.